PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


Division. 
Section 


THE  FRIENDS: 


WHO  THEY  ARE— WHAT  THEY  HAVE  DONE. 


JAN  4 

Logical 


THE  FRIENDS: 

HO  THEV  ARE -WHAT  THEY  HAVE  DONE. 


WILLIAM  BECK. 


NEW  YORK: 
Friends'  Book  and  Tract  Committee, 
45,  East  Tenth  Street. 

1897. 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION. 


This  little  work  attempts  only  a  general  description  of  the  rise, 
progress,  and  present  state  of  The  Society  of  Friends  as  a  community 
in  its  Religious,  Philanthropic,  Social,  and  Industrial  aspects. 

Those  acquainted  with  the  subject  will  kindly  make  allowance  for 
omissions  which  an  intentional  brevity  has  enforced,  and  any  who 
may  desire  further  details  will  find  them  in  works  which  most  Friends' 
libraries  possess. 

Such  as  this  is— it  is  offered  as  a  passing  tribute  of  regard  from 
one  whose  membership  in  the  Society  by  circumstance  of  birth  has 
been  confirmed  by  an  attachment  produced  by  a  sense  of  *he  justness 
of  its  views  on  Christian  Faith  and  Practice 

William  Beck. 

Stoke  Nevvixgton,  Lonugn, 
l:ith  August,  1892. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 
in  2015 


littps://arcliive.org/details/friendswliotlieyarOObeck 


CONTENTS. 


I.  A  CnosEN  Generation     -----  i 

II.  Some  Details  of  George  Fox's  Early  Life  -  10 
IIT.  George  Fox's  Personal  Appearance      -      -  17 

IV.  The  Early  Friends  Travelling  in  the  Ministry  21 

V.  .  The  Early  Missionaries — Continued     -      -  34 

VI.  Persecution  Under  Monarchy        o      «      ,  46 

VII.  Origin  of  the  Discipline  .      ...      ^      .  55 

VIII.  Meeting  Houses,  &o.       -      -      ••      *      -  69 

IX.  George  Whitehead  and  his  Serviok      *      .  63 

X.  Scotch  Friends  72 

XI.  Irish  Friends  -      -      -      -      -      .      -  82 

XII.  Friknds  in  Holland,  Germany,  and  West  Indies  92 

XIII.  „        America   100 

XIV.  „  Pennsylvania  -      -      -      -      -  116 

XV.  Ministers  amongst  the  Settlers  in  America-  134 

XVI.  George  Fox's  Death   140 

XVII.  Society  Organisation      -  -      -      -  144 

XVIII.  Yearly  Meeting  Premises      .      .      .      .  154 

XIX.  Christian  Doctrine  and  Counsel,  Issued  by 

the  Yearly  Meeting        -      -      -      -  159 

XX.  Education       -     ■  -   169 

XXI.  Disruption  and  Secession       -      -      -      -  175 

XXII.  Friends  as  Pioneers  in  Philanthropic  Efforts  187 

XXIII.  Slavery   196 

XXIV.  Treatment  of  the  Insane      .      .      .      .  207 

XXV.  Testimony  against  all  War  -      -      -      -  211 

XXVI.  Industrial,  Commercial  and  Social  Influenck  221 

XXVII.  Missions   238 

XXVIII.  Friends    as    at    present    in    Europe  and 

Australasia  248 

XXIX.  Friends  of  England,  Ireland,  Noirni  America, 

and  Canada,  in  Conference  assembled     -  257 

XXX.  Conclusion   264 


THE  FRIENDS, 

WHO  THEY  ARE — WHAT  THEY  HAVE  DONE, 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  CHOSEN  GENERATION. 

Ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation- 
—d. peculiar  people  that  ye  should  show  forth  the  praises  of  Iliiu 
s-ho  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  His  marvellous  light. — 
/  Peter  ii.  9. 

QOME  two  liundred  and  forty  years  ago,  or  to  be 
more  exact,  in  1652,  might  have  been  seen  one  fina 
spring  morning  a  tall  young  man  of  athletic  build 
climbing  the  steep  slopes  of  Pendle  Hill,  in  Lancashire. 
It  is  a  height  remarkable  for  its  extensive  prospect. 
In  one  direction  can  be  seen  the  waters  of  the  Irish 
Channel,  and  in  another,  far  off  eastward,  the  towers 
of  York  Minster.  Its  wild  rugged  summit,  held  in  awn 
by  country  folk  as  the  nightly  haunt  of  witches,  is  now 
associated  with  an  important  event  in  the  gospel  labours 
of  this  youthful  traveller,  George  Fox. 

He  has  left  on  record  the  feelings  awakened  in  his 
mind  as  he  gazed  in  that  fine  spring  morning  upon  th& 
wide  prospect  spread  out  below. 


2 


THE  FRIENDS. 


"  I  saw  the  Bea  bordering  upon  Lancashire,  and 
from  the  top  of  this  hill  the  Lord  let  me  see  in  what 
places  He  had  a  great  people  to  be  gathered,  a  people 
(he  adds)  in  white  raiment."  Such  became  known  as 
the  Society  of  Friends,  which  originated  through  the 
missionary  labours  of  that  young  man  of  eight  and 
twenty  amid  the  houses  and  people  of  the  district 
bordering  around  that  Lancashire  hill. 

This  travelling  evangelist  in  his  plain  farmer-like 
appearance — though  ungifted  with  the  eloquence  of  a 
Whitfield  or  the  scholarly  training  of  a  Wesley — had 
come  like  a  David  of  old  from  the  sheepfolds  to  be  an 
instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Great  Shepherd  of  souls 
to  bring  off  many  from  the  hills  of  a  barren  profession 
into  the  conscious  possession  of  gospel  truth  and  power. 

It  was  his  assurance  "  that  if  but  one  man  or  woman 
were  raised  up  by  the  Lord's  power  to  stand  and  live  in 
the  same  spirit  that  the  apostles  and  prophets  were  in 
who  gave  forth  the  Scriptures — that  man  or  woman 
should  shake  all  the  country  in  their  profession  for  ten 
miles  rcu  id,"  and  certainly  George  Fox  himself  became 
a  witness  to  the  truth  of  these  words  by  a  ministry  that 
shook  men's  hearts  exceedingly  both  in  acceptance  and 
in  opposition  to  his  doctrine. 

Encouraged  with  the  prospect  opened  before  him 
-on  Pendic  Hill,  the  missionary  traveller  descended  and 
having  refreshed  himself  by  a  draught  of  water  from 
a  spring  by  the  wayside,  entered  with  holy  ardour  on 
the  coming  service.  Undoubtedly  George  Fox  possessed 
Juodily  and  mental  as  well  as  spiritual  endowments  for 


THE  FRIENDS. 


3 


Buccess  as  a  missionary  preacher,  being  able  at  this  time 
of  his  life  to  endure  great  bodily  exertion  and  hardship. 
He  could  travel  for  days  together  without  food  or  any- 
Avhere  to  rest  at  night,  seeming  to  live  independent  of 
appetite  and  work  without  sense  of  fatigue.  Earnest 
yet  courteous  in  manner,  plain  yet  powerful  in  ministry 
and  doctrine,  skilful  in  debate,  he  would  harangue 
crowds  for  hours  together,  or  conduct  successfully 
arguments  with  professors  and  learned  opponents. 

By  the  time  he  had  reached  this  particular  district 
of  England  he  had  been  engaged  for  about  five  years 
travelling  in  the  midland  parts  of  England  in  the  spirit 
of  a  John  the  Baptist,  calling  upon  men  everywhere  to 
repent  for  that  the  Day  of  the  Lord  was  at  hand. 

He  believed  himself  a  divinely  appointed  herald 
to  call  men  off  from  a  formal  worship  to  one  in  Spirit 
and  in  Truth,  and  from  dependence  on  the  teaching  of 
man  to  know  the  voice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for 
themselves,  that  they  might  not  rest  satisfied  with 
reading  or  hearing  of  the  experiences  of  Prophet  or 
Apostle  of  old,  but  seek  for  the  same  divine  influence 
in  their  own  hearts,  and  thus  enter  into  conscious  pos- 
eession  of  that  Holy  Power  the  Scriptures  spake  of  as 
the  blessing  of  true  believers.  They  were  to  realize 
not  only  the  saving  virtue  of  our  Lord's  sacrifice  on 
Calvary,  but  His  spiritual  presence  in  the  heart,  as  the 
glorious  result  of  His  resurrection  power,  and  thereby 
know  a  being  brought  off  from  the  World's  ways  and 
Teachers,  to  be  instructed  of  the  Lord,  who  had  bought 
them  and  was  Himself  the  Teacher  as  well  as  the 


THK  FRIENDS. 


Saviour  according  to  the  promise,  "All  thy  children 
shall  be  taught  of  the  Lord,  and  great  shall  be  their 
Peace." 

Such  views  in  themselves  led  rather  to  greater 
<lepth  or  fulness  than  to  any  new  form  of  belief  or 
<  hange  in  mode  of  worship,  and  during  his  five  years 
of  missionary  labour  in  the  Midland  districts  of  England 
!io  fresh  Society  bad  arisen,  although  his  ministry  had 
aroused  opposition  in  some  quarters  and  met  with 
much  acceptance  in  others. 

But  now  as  he  descended  that  Lancashire  Hill  a 
decided  change  was  at  hand  and  his  followers  were  to 
group  themselves  into  a  definite  Community,  realising 
what  he  had  seen  in  vision  as  of  "  a  Great  People  in 
white  raiment  by  a  riverside  coming  to  the  Lord." 

With  his  accustomed  diligence  George  Fox  went 
from  house  to  house  and  from  town  to  tow^n  in  this 
district  of  Lancashire,  proceeding  thence  to  the  York- 
sliire  and  Westmoreland  Dales,  where  he  preached  to 
the  people  in  their  markets,  visited  them  at  their  farms 
and  went  to  the  mansions  of  the  country  gentry,  every- 
where and  on  all  possible  occasions,  proclaiming  his 
message  even  in  the  Churches.  These  he  called  Houses 
with  a  Steeple,  for  to  him  nothing  deserved  the  name 
•of  a  Church,  but  a  membership  of  souls  knit  together 
in  the  faith  and  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  their 
Saviour. 

His  Journal  notes  also  preaching  at  Fairs,  and  adds, 
"  so  dreadful  was  the  power  of  God  that  was  upon  mc, 
that  people  flew  like  chaff  before  me  into  their  houses. 


TIllO  FKIEXDS. 


5 


I  warned  them  of  the  mighty  day  of  the  Lord,  and  ex- 
horted them  to  hearken  to  the  voice  of  God  in  their 
own  hearts." 

Proceeding  thus,  amid  much  opposition  but  en- 
couraged by  the  many  who  embraced  his  views  of 
Christian  Truth,  he  came  into  the  Furness  district  and 
to  the  town  of  Ulverston,  near  which  dwelt  Judge  Fell 
and  Dame  Margaret  his  wife,  persons  of  quality  and 
great  influence  in  that  locality. 

Swarthmore  Hall,  their  residence,  is  a  substantial 
mansion  of  Elizabethan  date,  and  its  then  hospitable 
owners  kept  open  house  to  entertain  visitors  (especially 
ministers  or  those  on  Gospel  errands),  and  hither  George 
Fox  was  brought  by  one  of  his  friends. 

The  minister  of  the  parish  was  a  fellow  guest, 
and  an  argument  begun  with  him  on  religious  subjects 
was  resumed  a  few  days  later  in  the  church,  where, 
after  the  minister  had  finished  his  lecture,  George  Fox 
obtained  permission  to  give  his  views  on  the  nature  of 
Christian  experience  and  worship.  These  seemed  so 
novel  and  out  of  accord  with  what  the  congregation 
,  had  just  heard  from  the  pulpit,  that  a  Justice  who  was 
present,  ordered  him  to  be  stopped.  But  Margaret  Fell, 
struck  with  the  depth  and  power  of  the  message,  called 
out  to  let  him  alone,  and  her  influence  prevailed  for 
George  Fox  to  proceed  without  further  interruption. 
When  he  had  finished  with  the  people  inside  the  church, 
he  preached  to  a  crowd  outside  in  the  churchyard,  the 
people  being  much  excited  at  this  novel  scene  of  the 
man  in  "leathern  breeches"  confronting  their  Minister. 


6 


THE  FRIENDS. 


It  Jiiust  be  remembered  this  was  in  Oliver  Cromwell's 
time,  when  the  Church  of  England  was  dis-established, 
the  parish  clergj^man  dis-possessed,  and  sermons  and 
lectures  by  Presbyterian  or  Independent  ministers 
took  the  place  of  Church  services,  or  use  of  the  Prayer 
book.  Remarks  from  those  present  were  permitted 
after  sermon  or  lecture  was  over,  but  if  not  approved 
it  went  ill  with  those  who  had  ventured  to  differ,  for 
these  were  rough  times,  when  England  had  neither 
King  nor  Church,  and  scarce  a  Government  to  hold  the 
people  in  order. 

Margaret  Fell  was  a  lady  in  her  own  rank,  and 
had  married  Thomas  Fell,  a  gentleman  learned  in  the 
law  and  Judge  of  assize  for  the  principality  of  Wales. 
They  had  a  family  of  seven  daughters  and  a  son,  all 
by  this  time  come  to  years  of  maturity.  The  mother 
was  a  descendant  of  the  Anne  Askew  who  suffered 
martyrdom  in  the  Catholic  days,  and  possessed  a  similar 
decision  of  character  and  firmness  of  purpose  whicli 
carried  convictions,  when  formed,  into  practice,  and 
she  soon  became  an  earnest  adherent  to  George  Fox's 
views.  Her  daughters  and  other  members  of  the 
Swarthmore  household  followed  her  example.  They 
left  off  their  gay  attire,  adopted  plain  modes  of  speech, 
avoided  unmeaning  compliments,  and  began  henceforth 
to  sit  down  together  in  their  parlour  to  wait  upon  the 
great  Teacher  Himself,  instead  of  depending  any  longer 
upon  the  national  teachers  in  the  churches,  and  it  may 
almost  be  said  that  the  Friends,  as  a  Society,  originateil 
in  these  meetings  at  Swarthmore  Hall. 


THE  FRIEJfDS 


7 


The  •withdrawal  of  a  lady  of  bo  much  local  in- 
flr.ence  from  the  public  worship,  and  the  number 
who  followed  her  example,  occasioned  much  com- 
motion in  the  district,  and  the  Judge  who  was  away 
on  his  duties  in  the  Welsh  courts  when  all  this 
happened,  became  much  distressed  at  reports  brought 
to  him  of  his  family  having  been  bewitched  into  a 
religious  melancholy  by  a  travelling  stranger. 

Margaret  Fell,  aware  of  these  slanders,  awaited 
her  husband's  return  with  some  anxiety,  but  when  the 
Judge  found  that  the  alteration  in  his  family's  dress 
and  manners  had  increased  rather  than  lessened  their 
affectionate  attentions  to  all  his  wants,  he  settled  in 
with  a  satisfaction  little  expected  from  what  had  been 
told  him  of  the  change,  and  George  Fox  coming  to 
Swarthmore  Hall  that  evening  was  permitted  an  in- 
terview for  further  explanations. 

So  after  supper,  when  the  family  had  gathered  for 
evening  worship,  the  visitor  entered,  and  soon  became 
engaged  in  a  ministry,  plain  yet  powerful,  as  to  the 
true  nature  of  Christian  worship,  and  the  high  privi- 
leges open  to  the  believer  in  a  risen,  glorified,  and 
ever-present  Saviour. 

The  Judge  formed  so  favourable  an  opinion  of 
George  Fox  and  his  doctrine,  as  to  permit  the  con- 
tinuance of  meetings  on  his  premises,  and  though  he 
never  joined  the  Society,  would,  when  at  home,  leave 
his  study  door  open  to  share  in  the  meetings,  and  he 
used  his  influence  to  shield  the  Friends  as  much  as  he 
could  when  they  became  subject  to  persecution. 


8 


THE  FRIENDS. 


The  ministers  and  their  followers  having  failed  to 
gain  the  Judge  to  their  side,  and  unable  to  silence 
George  Fox  by  argument,  roused  the  town  rabble  upon 
him,  which  resulted  in  scenes  of  gross  violence  in  this 
district,  one  of  which  occurred  at  Ulverston,  during 
Judge  Fell's  absence,  and  maybe  taken  as  an  example 
of  how  a  missionary  preacher  was  treated  in  those  long 
past  days.  He  was  brutally  dragged  out  of  church  and 
through  the  town,  full  of  wounds  from  blows,  and  lay 
on  a  watery  common,  as  if  dead,  from  which  swoon, 
suddenly  reviving,  he  started  up  crying  "  Strike  if  you 
wish ;  here  are  my  arms,  my  head,  and  my  cheeks," 
whereat  a  brutal  fellow  fetched  him  a  blow  with  a 
heavy  staff,  so  violent  that  the  hand  and  arm  were  bo- 
numbed,  and  the  people  shouted  it  was  done  for  for 
ever  ;  but  "  I  looked  at  it  (adds  George  Fox)  in  the 
love  of  God,  for  I  was  in  the  love  of  God  to  them  all," 
and  presentlj-,  as  in  a  moment,  strength  returned  to 
hand  and  arm,  amid  the  rabble's  amazement,  who, 
instead  of  beating  him  again  afresh,  stood  to  hear  the 
intrepid  preacher.  When  he  had  finished  addressing 
them,  he  went  back  into  the  town  and  harangued  the 
people  in  the  market-place  on  the  contrast  their  con- 
duct presented  between  true  and  false  Christianity. 
After  which,  covered  with  bruises,  body  and  limbs 
black,  yellow,  and  blue,  he  took  his  way  to  Swarth- 
more  Hall,  where  Dame  Margaret  and  her  daughters 
were  busily  engaged  attending  with  lint  and  plaistei 
to  the  wounds  and  bruises  of  many  other  sufferers  in 
that  day's  tumult. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


9 


Here  a  few  days  of  much,  needed  rest  followed, 
and  the  break  it  makes  in  his  missionary  career  affords 
an  opportunity  to  introduce  some  particulars  of  the 
parentage  and  previous  history  of  this  guest  of  Margaret 
Fell's,  who  had  had  such  an  influence  on  the  religious 
life  of  herself  and  her  household,  and  who  had  so  nnr- 
rowly  escaped  being  beaten  to  death  by  an  Ulverstou 
mob. 


CHAPTER  II. 


SOME  DETAILS   OF   GEORGE  FOX  S  EARLY  LIFE. 

;/  There  is  in  broad  Europe  one  free  man— George  Fox  the 
//greatest  of  the  moderns— he  looks  heavenward  from  his  earth 
/'and  dwells  in  an  element  of  mercy  and  worship 

Carlvle. 

TT  has  already  been  mentioned  that  George  Fox  \^&s 
at  the  time  of  the  incidents  narrated  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  about  eight  and  twenty  years  of  age. 
His  birth,  was  in  the  year  1624,  and  in  the  county  of 
Leicester,  where  his  father,  Christopher  Fox,  a  small 
woollen  manufacturer,  lived  in  such  esteem  with  his 
neighbours  as  to  pass  amongst  them  by  the  name  of 
"  righteous  Christer,"  and  of  his  mother  George  Fox 
has  pithily  made  record  "  she  was  an  upright  woman 
of  the  stock  of  the  martyrs." 

Under  home  influence  for  good  he  had  grown  up 
sn  unusually  grave,  conscientious  lad,  avoiding  all  kinds 
of  foolish  sports,  and  so  truthful  and  also  so  determined 
that  it  was  a  saying  among  his  associates  "  if  George 
mjB  '  verily  '  there's  no  altering  him." 

Notwithstanding  the  reputation  thus  early  gained 
for  excellence  of  character  in  innocency  and  honesty, 
he  felt  himself  a  stranger  to  the  heartfelt  truths  of 
religion,  and  was  willing  in  search  of  this  knowledge 
^  relinquish  worldly  prospects  that  opened  before 


THE  FIUKNDS. 


him,  and  even  to  leave  his  home  and  relations  if  hu 
could  but  lind  the  way  of  peace. 

He  consulted  many  occupying  stations  affording 
reasonable  expectations  of  their  proving  his  instructors, 
but  gained  from  them  nothing  serviceable  to  his  state, ' 
and  although  he  associated  for  a  time  in  different  placet- 
Avith  earnest  and  good  people  of  various  religious  per- 
suasions, he  left  them  after  trial  of  their  ways  with  the 
mournful  experience  that  not  even  these  had  been  able 
to  comfort  him  in  his  distress. 

In  this  failure  to  arrive  at  true  peace  from  the 
counsels  of  others,  he  adopted  solitary  meditations, , 
and  would  spend  days  in  some  hollow  tree  in  a  deep  1 
study  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  pass  nights  walking  over ' 
commons  and  desert  places  in  these  lonely  musings. 

The  mental  strain  became  so  excessive  as  to  lead 
him  to  the  verge  of  despair,  for  no  more  relief  followed 
from  solitude  than  from  the  instructions  or  companion- 
ship of  religious  professors. 

It  was  the  turning  point  in  his  spiritual  life,  for 
so  soon  as  he  had  despaired  of  self-righteousness,  and 
could  adopt  the  language  of  the  patriarch  of  Uz,  "  I 
abhor  myself,"  he  heard  a  voice,  "  0  then  (he  says)  I 
heard  a  voice  which  said  there  is  ONE,  even  Christ 
Jesus,  that  can  speak  to  thy  condition,  and  when  I  ' 
heard  it  my  heart  did  leap  for  joy." 

Many  pages  of  his  printed  journal  are  filled  with 
a  record  of  feelings  and  experiences  at  the  opening  of 
divine  mysteries  and  revelations  of  gospel  truth  that 
attended  this  great  change  ;  let  it  suffice  here  to  say 


12 


THE  FRIENDS. 


thnt  he  was  now  become  a  new  man  in  Christ  Jesns 
with  whom  it  was  his  blessing  to  live  in  close  spiritual 
communion  throughout  a  long  life  of  apostolic  service 
that  was  the  means  of  bringing  many  thousands  to 
rejoice  in  a  similar  blessing. 

Having  alluded  to  his  utterances  in  times  of  deep 
despair,  a  few  expressions  may  be  added  as  to  his  sense 
of  relief  that  had  come  after  several  years  of  mental 
conflict  and  distress  : — "  I  could  not  believe  that  I 
should  ever  overcome — but  when  Christ  opened  to  me 
how  he  was  tempted  of  the  same  devil,  and  had  over- 
come him  and  bruised  his  head,  and  that  through  Him, 
and  His  Power,  Light,  Grace  and  Spirit  I  should  over- 
come also,  I  had  confidence  in  Him — He  gave  me  His 
Spirit,  and  gave  me  His  Grace  which  I  found  sufficient 
in  the  deeps  and  in  weakness — and  I  saw  professors, 
priests,  and  people  were  whole  and  at  ease  in  that  con- 
dition which  was  my  misery,  and  they  loved  that 
which  I  would  have  been  rid  of  ;  but  the  Lord  did 
stay  my  desires  upon  Himself  from  whom  my  help 
came,  and  my  care  was  cast  upon  Him  alone." 

George  Fox  was  about  three  and  twenty  when  he 
felt  the  Divine  commission  to  speak  of  that  which  he 
had  learned  and  to  testify  of  that  which  he  had 
spiritually  seen  of  the  Grace  of  God  to  all  men  in 
Christ  Jesus.  He  had  been  brought  through  an 
"  ocean  of  darkness  "  into  the  peace  and  power  of  his 
risen  and  glorified  Saviour.  Many  came  to  consult 
him  both  from  far  and  near,  esteeming  him  to  be  a 
young  man  with  a  discerning  spirit.    To  such  he  spake 


THE  FRIENDS. 


13 


of  the  things  of  God,  and  was  heard  with  an  attention 
that  led  many  to  seek  through  silent  waiting  and 
wrestling  of  spirit  for  the  same  Peace  themselves. 
He  saw  the  Harvest  white,  and  himself  as  its  reaper,  ./ 
with  a  sense  of  coming  opposition  of  which  his  more  ! 
public  ministry  soon  brought  him  an  ample  experience. 

In  this  age  of  toleration  for  all  religious  opinions 
it  may  be  difficult  to  understand  how  it  came  to  pass 
that  a  young  man,  who  would  now  have  been  termed 
a  preacher  of  the  higher  Christian  life,  was  denounced 
as  a  blasphemer  or  imprisoned  as  a  dangerous  character 
by  the  magistrates.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
England  was  at  this  time  in  great  commotion,  political, 
social  and  religious  ;  there  was  neither  King  nor 
Church,  and  the  Magistrates'  power  was  uncertain. 
The  authorities  dreaded  meetings  as  sources  of  plots 
and  factions,  and  the  preachers  who  occupied  the 
parish  pulpits  were  too  many  of  them  learned  pro- 
fessors, rather  than  actual  possessors  of  the  Truth  on 
which  they  discoursed.  It  angered  them  to  be  lectured 
by  a  youth  who  had  never  been  to  College,  as  if  he 
could  unfold  a  more  excellent  way,  and  when  he 
claimed  (as  he  did)  to  be  in  possession  of  a  measure  of  i 
that  Spirit  in  which  the  Scriptures  were  written,  this  ' 
was  denounced  as  despising  the  Bible,  and  again,  when 
he  pleaded  for  a  knowledge  of  sin  being  overcome  and 
a  state  of  perfectness  attained,  he  was  charged  with 
saying  he  was  a  Christ  himself,  and  as  a  consequence 
imprisoned  for  Blaspliemy ,  whilst  what  he  really  pro- 
claimed was  Purity,  Righteousness   and  Perfection 


14 


THE  FRIENDS. 


throngli  belief  in  and  by  the  power  of  Christ. 

Religious  controversy  and  political  strife  went 
hand  in  hand,  and  as  the  rival  parties  had  spent  years 
in  fighting  on  battle-fields  it  is  no  surprise  to  find  that 
whichever  one  was  in  power  persecuted  the  other,  and 
George  Fox  and  his  Friends  (who  were  conscientiously 
of  no  political  party  whatever)  became  dreaded  by 
each  in  turn.  At  this  time  the  Puritans  were  upper- 
most, who  had  brought  their  King  to  the  scaffold,  and 
their  preachers  said  George  Fox  was  a  man  not  fit  to 
be  at  large,  so  for  more  than  a  year  he  was  their 
prisoner  in  Derby  jail  on  account  of  his  theological 
convictions  and  firm  announcement  of  a  possible  free- 
dom from  Sin  through  the  indwelling  power  of  the 
Lord.  This  his  opponents  had  distorted  into  a  claim 
to  be  Divine,  heedless  of  his  emphatic  declaration, 
j  "  Nay  !  We  ivere  nothing,  Christ  is  all."  He  bid  the 
Justices  tremble  at  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  for  this, 
one  of  them  called  him  a  Quaker,  an  opprobrious  title 
neither  he  nor  his  successors  have  ever  lost. 

It  illustrates  the  strange  temper  of  these  zealous 
Puritans  to  find  that  their  prisoner  was,  after  some  long 
weary  months  of  jail  life,  offered  his  freedom,  if  be 
would  but  officer  a  troop  of  soldiers  that  was  being 
raised  in  Derby  to  fight  Prince  Charles,  then  with  an 
army  at  Worcester  seeking  to  regain  his  father's  throne. 
The  soldiers,  pleased  at  the  prospect,  cried  out  to  have 
this  stalwart  youth  placed  over  them,  for  he  looked  like 
one  born  to  command.  He  declined  the  tempting 
offer,  saying  he  was  "in  love  with  all  men  and  could | 


THE  FRIENDS. 


15 


not  fight  against  any,"  which  religious  conviction 
against  the  unlawfulness  of  all  wars  and  fightings 
being  construed  as  a  disloyalty  to  the  government,  he 
was  in  rage  thrust  back  amongst  the  lowest,  rogues,  and 
kept  near  six  months,  as  if  he  were  the  vilest  of 
criminals,  in  a  nasty  stinking  place  with  not  even  a 
bed  to  lie  upon.  At  length,  no  real  cause  of  offence 
being  found  against  him,  and  some  trouble  that  fell 
on  the  town  being  thought  a  judgment  on  their  con- 
duct, the  authorities  dismissed  him  as  having  proved 
himself  "  an  honest  and  virtuous  man."  It  set  him 
1'ree  for  that  missionary  journey  among  the  fields 
white  unto  harvest,"  which,  as  already  described, 
brought  him  to  the  incidents  connected  with  Swarth- 
more  Hall.  With  all  the  energy  of  youthful  manhood 
and  the  zeal  of  an  inspired  evangelist,  George  Fox  prose- 
cuted his  mission  in  these  Northern  districts,  now 
preaching  to  throngs  from  a  haystack  or  a  hillock,  then 
to  crowded  congregations  in  churches  for  three  hours 
at  a  time,  with  ministers  silenced  by  his  arguments 
and  people  amazed  at  his  doctrine.  Then  came  long  i 
reasonings  with  professors  in  conference  or  wise  counsel  I 
to  converts  in  houses.  At  times  he  is  in  arrest  as  a 
prisoner  at  sessions  or  before  justices,  exposing  the 
calumnies  of  accusers,  and  clearing  himself  to  the 
conviction  of  sober-minded  and  learned  men.  In  his 
public  ministry  he  used  no  flattering  words  or  fair 
speeches,  but  boldly  called  all  to  repentance.  At 
T\Iarket  crosses  he  would  publicly  denounce  the  cozen- 
ing and  deceitful  practices  of  traders,  and  sought  in 


16 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


both  high  and  low  to  awaken  the  voice  of  Conscience 
in  the  heart.  This  he  assured  them  was  the  word  of 
the  Lord  to  the  soul,  which,  if  attended  to,  would  lead 
to  repentance,  and  to  a  being  taught  of  the  Lord  with 
an  ability  to  resist  all  evil  by  the  Lord's  own  power,  to 
the  end  that  their  bodies  might  be  pure  temples  for 
Him,  by  His  Spirit  to  "  live  in  them  and  walk  in 
them,"  according  to  His  gracious  promises  in  Christ 
Jesus.  A  great  "  convincement "  resulted  from  this 
ministry  in  the  six  counties  of  Durham,  Northumber- 
land, Westmoreland,  Lancashire,  Cumberland  and 
Yorkshire  where,  George  Fox  writes,  "  the  plants  of 
•■  God  so  grew  and  flourished  that  many  mouths  were 
•  opened  by  the  Lord  to  His  praise,  yea,  to  babes  and 
'  sucklings  He  ordained  strength." 


CHAPTER  III. 


GEORGE  FOX'S  PERSONAL  APPEARANCE. 
S  curiosity  may  have  been  awakened  respecting  ilio 


personal  appearance  of  one  so  dreaded  by  some, 
and  so  beloved  by  others,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in 
the  absence  of  any  contemporary  likeness,*  our  infor- 
mation rests  on  allusions  contained  in  his  Journal,  and 
observations  made  by  some  of  his  intimate  friends. 
From  these  we  may  gather  that  he  was  of  a  tall  build, 
and  in  after  life  bulky  in  form,  his  eyes  bright  and 
piercing,  {'■'■Take  thine  eyes  off  said  one  with 

whom  he  was  arguing,  "they  inerce  me  so''')  His  voice 
powerful  and  strong,  he  could  address  large  crrwilsfor 
hours  at  a  time  in  the  open  air,  and  make  himself  so 
heard  above  the  din  of  an  excited  court,  that  a  judge 
called  out, "  Thou  hast  good  lungs,  George,  it  needs  four  | 
or  five  town  criers  to  stop  thee."  In  all  matters  of 
dress  he  was  plain  rather  than  peculiar,  avoided  finery 
in  silks  and  velvets,  and  bright  colours,  which  the 
gentlemen  of  the  age  wore,  but  always  had  his  linen 
clean  and  good,  and  the  "  leathern  breeches"  were  but 
what  are  still  thought  suitable  for  those  so  often,  as 


*  One  attributed  to  the  pencil  of  Lely  is  now  claimed  as  such, 
hut  some  critics  see  in  tlie  regularity  of  tlie  features  more  of  the 
quietude  of  a  Penington  than  the  generalship  of  a  George  Fox. 


\ 


18 


THE  FRIENDS. 


he  was,  in  the  saddle.  His  manners,  though  without 
the  compliments,  then  fashionable,  of  bows,  or  movinfr 
of  the  hat,  or  use  of  yoiir  humhle  servant,  and  flattering 
titles,  were  owned  to  be  civil  beyond  all  forms  o£ 
breeding.  And  so  far  from  having  the  appearance  of  a 
closely  cropped  Puritan,  his  long  and  luxuriant  hair 
rested  on  his  shoulders  with  a  graceful  curl.  His 
mind  had  not  been  trained  in  the  schools  of  human 
learning,  but  was  of  such  capacity  for  acquiring  know 
ledge  that  many  of  his  associates  who  had  had  these 
advantages  were  surprised  at  his  questions  and  answers 
in  Natural  things,  for  "  he  had  in  him  the  foundation 
j  of  useful  and  commendable  knowledge,  and  cherished 
I  it  everywhere."  He  was  plain  and  powerful,  rather 
than  eloquent  in  speaking,  would  go  to  the  marrow  of 
things,  and  had  an  extraordinary  gift  in  opening  the 
Scriptures,  and  abruptly  as  sometimes  his  sentences 
would  fall  from  him,  they  often  served  as  texts  to  many 
a  fairer  declaration  from  others.  He  was,  adds  one  of 
his  contemporaries,  "  a  man  that  God  endued  with  a 
clear  and  wonderful  depth,  a  discerner  of  others'  spirits, 
and  very  much  a  master  of  his  own ;  so  meek,  con- 
tented, modest,  easy,  steady  and  tender,  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  be  in  his  company."  Whilst  another  who 
knew  him  well,  conversed  with  him  often,  observed 
him  much,  and  loved  him  dearly,  says  he  was  "  Grace- 
fal  in  countenance,  manly  in  personage,  grave  in 
gesture,  courteous,  weighty  and  instructive,  zealous  for 
the  Name  of  the  Lord,  and  preferred  the  honour  of  God 
before  all  things." 


THE  FRIENDS. 


19 


George  Fox  must  have  had  some  resources  of  his 
own  that  gave  him  an  independent  livelihood,  for  he 
■was  engaged  in  no  business  and  never  accepted  re- 
muneration for  preaching.  Instances  occur  of  his 
being  charitable  in  gifts  to  cases  of  distress.  Probably 
he  inherited  a  small  patrimony  sufficient  for  his 
moderate  wants.  We  read  of  the  large  black  horse  he 
rode,  and  find  if  no  hospitality  was  extended  to  him 
that  he  went  to  some  tavern  or  ale-house  and  paid  for 
his  fare  like  an  ordinary  traveller. 

When  occasion  required  he  could  make  great  sacri- 
fices of  personal  comfort,  never  more  so  than  on  his 
first  Northern  journey,  so  fruitful  of  results.  He  had 
left  his  horse,  finding  it  a  hindrance,  and  was  on  foot ; 
was  often  refused  meat  or  drink  for  days  together 
though  he  ofiiered  to  pay  for  it,  yet  travelled  on  un- 
wearied and  preached  everywhere.  So  active  was  he, 
people  thought  him  a  wizard,  so  enduring  that  after 
days  of  continuous  fasting  a  draught  of  cold  water 
would  suffice  for  his  refreshment,  and  a  furze  bush 
or  a  hayrick  serve  him  for  shelter  on  a  cold  winter's 
night.  But  this  inhospitable  treatment  among  the 
northern  folk  soon  changed  as  his  character  became 
known  and  his  followers  increased,  yet  he  ever  re- 
mained foremost  in  danger  or  in  suffering  amongst 
them.  "  Much  of  my  life,"  he  once  said,  "  I  have  spent 
in  prison."  In  1649  such  was  his  lot  at  Nottingham, 
the  succeeding  year  at  Derby  for  eighteen  months,  then 
at  Carlisle  in  a  filthy  dungeon.  In  1654  he  was  arrested 
at  Leicester  and  sent  to  Oliver  Cromwell  who,  as  we 


20 


THE  FRIENDS. 


shall  see,  found  no  fault  w  ith  him.  At  Laauceston,  in 
far  Cornwall,  they  put  him  into  Doomsdale.*  At  Lan- 
caster he  was  twice  confined  in  the  castle,  then  sent  to 
Scarborough  where  it  looked  as  if  death  would  be  hia 
release,  and  at  a  time  of  life  when  a?e  and  infirmities 
were  upon  him  he  was  cast  into  jail  at  "Worcester  and 
released  only  by  efforts  that  brought  his  case  before  the 
Lord  Chief  Jutstice  in  London  who  gave  him  a  clear 
acquittal. 


"  "  Tlie  prisoners  and  sonic  Avild  people,  t.ilkc(^  of  spirits  tliat 
haunted  Doomsdale.  and  liow  many  had  died  in  it.  But  I  lold 
them  if  all  the  devils  in  hell  were  there,  I  was  over  tliem  in  tiie 
power  of  God,  and  feared  no  sueh  thing  ;  for  Christ  our  priest 
would  sanctify  the  walls  and  tlie  house  to  us,  lie  who  biTiised 
the  head  of  the  de\  i\.''—The  Journ  iL 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  EARLY  FRIENDS  TRAVELLIXG  IN  THE  MINISTRY. 

"  What  Chiist  does  for  our  salvation  icithin  us  by  His  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Early  Friends  sought  to  unfold  and  proclaim  as  a 
mysterj'  then  little  known  to  so  many  Christian  believers,  whilst 
what  the  Lord  had  done  xcitlwut  us  and  for  us,  being  generally 
accepted,  they  insisted  on  the  one  more  than  the  other." 

A  N  ancient  historian  compared  the  spread  of  Chris- 


tian doctrine  throxighout  the  world  to  the  swift 
radiance  of  the  rising  sun,  and  it  was  with  a  some- 
what similar  rapidity  that  Friends'  views  of  Christian 
Truth  became  known  throughout  cities,  town  and 
country,  until  Meetings  were  everywhere  settled. 

The  labour  of  years  in. other  parts  of  England  had 
brought  George  Fox  but  few  co-workers  in  missionary 
enterprise,  but  when  these  Northern  districts  were 
reached  some  sixty  earnest  spirits  were  suddenly  found 
tilled  with  a  holy  enthusiasm  to  spread  everywhere  the 
views  that  had  brought  peace  to  their  souls  through  his 
ministry. 

These  threescore  zealous  missionaries  left  house 
and  home  (some  of  them  never  to  return),  and  going 
forth  two  and  two  together,  travelled  mostly  on  foot, 
taking  little  or  no  money  with  them,  depending  for 
food  and  lodging  on  the  kindness  of  those  to  whou) 
their  message  might  be  acceptable.    They  coveted  no 


22 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


man's  silver,  or  gold,  or  apparel,  nor  sought  for  profit 
or  honour  to  themselves,  but  full  of  pious  zeal  desired 
others  might  come  through  their  ministry  to  participate 
in  the  blessings  they  had  themselves  found  by  accept- 
ing Christ  Jesus  as  their  Teacher  and  Guide,  through 
His  Spirit  in  the  heart. 

For  that  glorious  purpose  had  our  Lord,  they 
declared,  made  of  Himself  not  only  an  offering  for  Sin 
(which  all  Christians  acknowledged),  but  had  obtained 
for  man  power  over  sin,  w^hereby  the  believer  through 
spiritual  union  with  Him,  might  find  an  indwelling 
force  making  him  victorious  in  the  hour  of  temptation 
and  proving  an  effective  liberator  from  the  dominion 
of  sin,  as  the  Apostle  said  (Rom.  vi.  14) — "  Sin  shall 
not  have  dominion  over  you." 

Far  short  of  this  were  the  views  then  prevailing  of 
the  work  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  for  man.  Religious 
professors  contented  themselves  wuth  the  belief  that 
justice  due  for  sin  had  sheathed  its  avenging  sword  in 
a  Savioxir's  breast,  and  that  it  honoured  Him  aright  to 
conceive  of  His  righteousness  covering  as  a  robe  all 
/poor  Man's  defects.  As  for  divine  virtue  eradicating 
lain  in  Man,  the  preachers  of  the  day  declared  any  be- 
'  lief  in  such  inward  work  and  power  to  be  false  in 
doctrine,  dishonouring  to  the  Head  of  the  Church  and 
detractive  from  the  atoning  virtue  of  the  great  sacrifice 
on  Calvary. 

Whereas,  these  zealous  ones  ijroclaimed,  it  was 
giving  greater  honour  to  the  Saviour,  who  died  for  all 
men,  when  the  believer  was  Avillingly  and  patiently 


THE  FRIENDS. 


23 


submissive  to  a  further  worh  of  the  Lord's  spirit  in  his 
heart  creative  of  an  indwelling  righteousness. 

They  sought  to  lead  on  from  the  cross  at  Calvary  I 
to  the  day  of  Pentecost,  that  having  died  to  all  self-l 
trust,  a  measure  might  be  known  of  the  same  experience 
enjoyed  by  apostles  and  prophets,  who  felt  there  was 
that  in  them  not  of  themselves,  even  the  power  of 
Christ's  own  endless,  boundless,  victorious  life.  Its 
result  in  those  who  thus  felt  the  Spirit  of  Truth  and 
yielded  to  its  guidance  in  life  and  practice  was  that  it 
influenced  them  in  all  things — their  word  became  their 
bond,  all  untruthful  expressions  used  as  compliments 
were  discarded,  the  vain  fashions  of  the  world  were 
laid  aside,  truth  was  sought  in  word  and  act ;  which  in 
an  age  of  gaiety  and  fashion,  made  them  singular  in 
daily  life,  and  led  into  singularity  of  religious  practice. 
They  could  not  join  with  mere  professors  in  the  out- 
ward worships,  or  use  words  in  Psalm  singings  or 
prayers  not  truly  expressive  of  their  feelings  at  the 
time,  and  they  preferred  to  sit  down  in  a  reverential  j 
silence,  waiting  to  feel  fresh  arisings  of  the  Spirit  of ' 
Life  in  their  hearts. 

One  social  peculiarity  resulting  from  the  desire  to 
be  truthful  was  the  saying  Thoxi  to  all  persons  alike  if 
only  one  were  addressed,  whereas  society  favoured  the 
use  of  You  as  a  compliment  to  those  in  genteel  circum- 
stances like  as  the  term  Esqxiire  is  now  applied  to  some 
and  Mr.  to  others ;  the  Friend  (in  this  respect  religiously 
republican)  said  Thou  even  in  the  presence  of  the  King, 
nor  could  he,  when  hats  were  worn  in  doors  (as  in  the 


24 


THE  FRIENDS. 


House  of  Commons  still)  and  only  removed  as  an  act 
of  worship,  consent  to  take  them  off  as  a  compliment 
iu  reverence  to  any  Law  Court,  notwithstanding  such 
religious  scruples  condemned  him  in  the  eye  of  captious 
judges  as  one  who  would  not  reverence  the  Law. 

His  conviction  also  that  Oaths  were  unlawful  and 
all  Swearing  forbidden  to  a  Christian,  proved  especial 
cause  of  trouble,  for  in  those  days  such  were  the  only 
methods  by  which  a  person  could  prove  his  loyalty  to 
a  Government  that  visited  refusal  with  loss  of  liberty 
and  property.  In  the  face  of  these  penalties  the  Friend, 
true  to  the  command  of  his  Lord,  would  "  swear  not  at 
all,"  letting  his  Yea  be  Yea  and  his  Nay,  Nay  ;  assured 
that  "  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  cometh  of  evil." 

This  valiant  missionary  band  came  forth  in  an  age 
of  preaching,  when  learned  divines  unfolded  the  mean- 
ing of  Scripture  in  sermons  of  several  hours'  length,  and 
officers  in  the  army,  captains  and  colonels  of  regiments 
were  preachers  as  well  as  soldiers.  Religious  questions 
pervaded  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  Parliamentary 
sittings  would  be  spent  in  their  discussion  or  debates 
merge  into  preaching  and  prayer. 

The  Liturgy  was  superseded  in  1G45  by  another 
form  of  worship,  called  the  Directory,  which  continued 
in  use  until  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy.  The 
Directory  was  not  an  absolute  form  of  devotion,  but 
contained  only  some  general  directions  to  the  ministei-s 
as  to  public  prayer  and  preaching  and  other  parts  of 
iheir  functions,  leaving  them  a  discretionary  power  to 
(ill  up  the  vacant  time.    Whilst  then;  was  this  general 


THE  FEIENDS, 


25 


regulation  respecting  the  form  of  worship,  the  pulpits 
were  occupied  variously  by  all  kinds  of  professors. 
"  Independent  and  Presbyterian  priests  and  some  Bap- 
tist priests  (observed  George  Fox)  had  got  into  tha 
steeple-houses,"  and  now  that  the  Episcopalians  were 
driven  out,  "  hunted  after  a  benefice  as  crows  do  after 
a  rotten  sheep." 

Amidst  this  prevalent  Bible  exposition  and  doc- 
trinal discussion,  while  different  parties  were,  forming 
Confessions  of  faith  and  bases  of  religious  agreement, 
came  this  message,  not  only  to  learn  from  Scripture 
what  the  Lord  had  done  in  days  past,  or  draw  there- 
from a  rule  of  conduct,  but  also,  and  more  especially, 
to  partake  in  the  same  power  that  had  made  of  men 
xVpostles  and  Prophets,  so  that  each  one,  no  longer 
dependent  on  his  fellows,  might  be  himself  a  priest, 
taught  of  the  Lord,  joyfully  to  know  a  royal  state  in 
dominion  over  sin  through  the  indwelling  power  of 
his  risen  Saviour.  "  The  Son  of  God  "  (said  one  of 
these)  "  is  come  to  deface  and  destroy  the  image  of  the 
Devil,  and  renew  us  up  in  the  image  of  God."  It 
came  as  a  new  aspect  of  the  Gospel  to  people  hitherto 
dependent  on  ceremonies  or  preachings,  and  they  sat 
down  in  silence  to  feel  after  and  to  know  Him  who 
would  not  only  destroy  their  self-confidence,  but  also 
liberate  them  from  dependence  on  other  men,  and 
Himself  heal  their  broken  spirits  and  raise  up  in  them 
His  own  power. 

The  teachers  of  the  day  finding  their  congregations 
lessened,  denounced  this  view  of  Christian  life  as  a 


26 


THE  FRIENDS. 


self-dependence,  and  because  these  earnest  minds  sought 
rather  for  that  which  the  Scriptures  bore  witness  of, 
than  rested  in  the  feelings  and  thoughts  awakened  by 
Texts,  the  pulpits  cried  out  that  the  Holy  Word  was 
being  neglected,  and  called  upon  magistrates,  autho- 
rities, and  justices  of  the  peace  to  stamp  out  this 
heresy. 

England  during  these  days  of  the  Commonwealth, 
being  pervaded  with  unsettlement  through  factious 
plotting  for  a  change,  it  was  easy  to  rouse  the  sus- 
picions of  the  rulers  against  those  whose  views  as  they 
spread  everywhere,  lessened  the  authority  of  preachers 
and  ministers,  and  the  alarm  cry  was  raised  that  if 
unchecked,  Magistracy  and  State  authority  would  go 
likewise,  and  all  the  country  be  thrown  into  confusion. 

In  times  when  the  scaffold  or  the  pillory,  the 
whipping  post  or  the  filthy  jail  were  the  modes  for 
enforcing  authority,  it  needed  much  courage  and  holy 
enthusiasm  to  brave  the  displeasure  of  the  ruling 
classes  in  religion,  and  few  of  these  sixty  missionaries 
escaped  without  some  share  in  such  cruelties,  un- 
righteously administered  in  the  name  of  Justice. 

Truly  these  illuminated  ones  had  to  endure  a 
great  fight  of  controversy  and  affliction,  with  trial  of 
cruel  mockings  aud  scourgings."  Ears  were  cut  off',  ,| 
noses  were  slit,  and  bonds  and  imprisonments  inflicted  (' 
for  no  other  cause  than  opposition  to  the  doctrines  of 
popular  preachers  or  refusal  under  any  circumstances 
to  swear  or  take  an  oath.  Such  brutalities,  ordered 
by  justices  and  magistrates  in  the  name  of  Justice, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


27 


seem  incredible  to  us  living  in  this  time  of  general 
Toleration,  especially  as  those  who  thus  suffered  were 
jireachers  of  righteousness,  who  called  on  all  men  "  to 
walk  wisely,  gently,  lovingly,  meekly,  and  soberly, 
redeeming  the  time  because  the  days  were  evil,"  and 
laboured  that  a  holy  generation  might  be  raised, 
strengthened,  and  increased  in  the  earth  among  the 
children  of  meij. 

Not  only  are  the  names  known  of  most  of  these 
threescore  propagators  of  Friends'  views,  but  many  of 
the  letters  written  by  them  to  Margaret  Fell  during 
their  mission  remain  among  the  Society's  manuscripts, 
and  of  some  of  them  Memoirs  or  Journals  were  pub- 
lished recording  their  wide-spread  labours,  great  suc- 
cesses and  grievous  sufferings. 

Most  of  them  were  either  young  in  years  or  in 
the  prime  of  life;  few  possessed  School  attainments, 
but  were  deep  in  spiritual  experience,  and  their  preach- 
ing was  not  "  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom, 
but  in  demonstration  of  the  Sjiirit  and  of  power,"  and 
their  endeavoiar  was  to  bring  off  from  the  outward  to 
the  inward,  and  raise  a  "  faith  in  the  heart  that  should 
stand,  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of 
God."— (I.  Cor.  ii.  4.) 

They  entered  freely  into  controversy,  attended 
and  spoke  at  public  Lectures,  preached  in  Markets,  held 
great  meetings,  and  those  who  accepted  their  message 
were  gathered  by  them  to  assemble  regularly  in  private 
dwellings  or  in  some  hired  premises.  In  this  way  the 
Society  of  Friends  quickly  rose  all  over  England,  and 


28 


THE  FRIENDS. 


in  London  and  Bristol  increased  greatly  among  the 
inhabitants  of  these  chief  commercial  centres  at  a  time 
when  such  places  as  Birmingham  or  Bradford,  Leeds, 
Liverpool,  or  Manchester,  were  but  villages  compared 
with  their  present  populations. 

Great  diversity,  both  of  station  and  character  com- 
bined to  give  effect  to  this  wide-spread  mission.  Some 
were  but  domestic  servants,  others  had  independent 
means,  some  had  left  the  plough  in  the  furrow,  others 
the  pen  of  the  scribe  or  lamp  of  the  student ;  some 
were  farmers,  others  tradesmen,  several  had  been 
esteemed  as  able  preachers  ;  and  amidst  this  group 
great  differences  are  discernible  of  character  ;  one 
was  deliberate  like  John  Bitrnyeat,  others  calm  and 
sagacious  like  Thos.  Aldam  or  Alexander  Parker. 
Rivliard  Farnsicorth  and  Bohert  Widders  were  thun- 
derers  against  hypocrisy  and  deceit,  Josm/i  Cole  ecstatic 
with  visions  of  heavenly  glory,  Wm.  Dewshury  grace- 
ful in  mind  and  speech,  George  ^V^litehcad  dehorn  rxxicT 
of  men.  These  may  be  taken  as  types  of  the  variety 
in  this  large  missionary  band,  amongst  whom  none 
shewed  more  zeal  than  the  youthful  Edward  Burroughs 
who  made  great  ferment  by  his  ardent  conduct  in  the 
Metropolis. 

"  Last  First-day  but  one,"  observes  E.  Burrough, 
in  lG5i,  "I  was  at  a  Steeple-house  [in  London]  in  the 
forenoon,  and  had  free  liberty  to  speak  what  I  was 
free,  and  passed  away  to  [our]  meeting  in  the  after- 
noon." 

About  the  same  date  Francis  Howgill,  his  fellow 


THE  FRIENDS. 


labourer,  writes:"!  went  to  E.B.,  who  was  pone  to 
Lombard  Street  to  a  public  steeple-house,  wliere  most 
of  the  high  notionists  in  the  City  came,  and  so  1  came 
to  him  before  the  priest  had  done,  and  after  he  ceased,. 
Edward  stood  up  upon  a  seat  and  spoke  with  a  loud 
voice  and  in  much  power,  and  all  was  still  and  quiet, 
and  he  spoke  about  an  hour  and  the  people  were  very 
calm,  and  afterward  I  spoke  and  we  cleared  our  con- 
sciences and  passed  away  in  peace." 

As  the  work  in  London  became  eventually  so  im- 
portant that  it  has  been  estimated  the  Society  had  there 
some  10,000  adherents,  a  few  more  allusions  may  be 
made  to  this  work  of  Edward  Burrough  and  Francis 
llowgill,  who  were  the  first  to  declare  Friends'  views 
publicly  in  the  Great  City. 

"Great  is  our  travail  (they  write)  till  Christ  be 
brought  forth  in  this  people,  and  our  suffering  is  even 
Avith  and  for  the  pure  seeii,  which  lies  in  bondage  in 
this  City  .  .  here  are  the  subtlest  serpents  to  grapple 
with  .  .  great  giants  to  e'ncouuier,  but  by  the  power 
of  the  Lord  the  mouths  of  lions  have  been  stopped  and 
our  adversaries  have  been  put  to  flight.  .  .  All  the- 
Priests  and  all  the  gathered  Congregations  in  the  city 
preach  against  us  and  are  bent  in  great  rage,  and  print 
lies,  and  incense  people  much.  We  have  ordinarily 
two  public  disputes  with  the  heads  of  them,  and  they 
lose  their  members  so  fast  they  know  not  what  to  do,, 
yet  the  City  is  pretty  calm  and  quiet.  .  .  We  get 
Friends  on  the  First  days  to  meet  together  in  several 
places  out  of  the  rude  multitude  "  [soiuo  seven  or  eight 


30 


THE  FRIENDS. 


had  opened  their  houses  for  these  more  private  gather- 
ings] "  and  -we  two  go  to  the  great  meeting  place  which 
we  have,  which  will  hold  a  thousand  people."  And 
here,  Bible  in  hand,  Edward  Burrough  would  expound 
for  hours  before  crowds  of  listeners,  "  threshing  (as  he 
called  it)  among  the  multitude."  He  was  ready  also 
to  avail  himself  of  any  occasion  that  might  offer  for  a 
public  proclamation  of  the  gospel.  Once  (for  example) 
he  came  upon  a  crowd  of  rough  fellows  assembled  on 
an  evening  in  Moorfields,  around  some  wrestlers,  and 
arrived  just  as  one  who  had  thrown  all  competitors 
was  striding  in  defiance  round  the  ring  challenging  any 
to  try  a  throw  with  him,  whereupon  Edward  Burrough 
stepped  out  into  the  midst,  and  as  the  hero  of  muscle 
stared  at  his  strange  antagonist,  began  to  declare  in  his 
powerful  voice  that  he  was  not  come  to  wrestle  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  the  powers  of  evil  and 
darkness.  The  people  listened  to  him,  greatly  wonder- 
ing, and  departed  quietly,  feeling  that  this  ardent  youth 
of  scarce  eighteen  was  such  a  preacher  as  they  had  not 
heard  before.  He  and  his  companion,  Francis  Howgill, 
are  described  as  instruments  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
"  for  the  gathering  of  many,  who  like  good  old  Simeon 
were  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel." 

No  central  control  directed  the  movements  of  those 
composing  this  Friends'  missionary  band  ;  they  went 
only  where  they  themselves  felt  free  to  go,  but  met 
together  when  occasions  served  for  advice  and  counsel, 
and  evidently  kept  in  touch  with  the  mistress  of 
Swarthmore  Hall,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  which 


THE  FKIBNDS. 


31 


most  of  them  had  come,  and  it  is  very  probable  some 
of  the  poorer  ones  were  dependent  in  a  measure  on 
her  bounty  for  means  of  travel  in  this  early  stage  when 
no  Society  had  as  yet  been  formed. 

Let  it  be  afresh  remembered  these  were  times  of 
National  confusion  and  commotion.  Amidst  the  wreck- 
age of  the  Constitution  the  Throne  was  vacant,  the 
Church  dis-established ;  a  King,  a  Prime  Minister  and 
an  Archbishop  had  each  died  on  the  scaffold  ;  the 
House  of  Lords  was  abolished,  the  Prayer-book  pro- 
scribed, and  Episcopalian  ministers  driven  from  their 
parishes,  and  from  the  Universities.  Civil  war  between 
King  and  Parliament  was  only  just  ended,  and  people's 
minds  were  unsettled  amid  conflicting  ideas  in  religious, 
social,  and  political  life. 

The  Liturgical  service  of  the  Episcopalian  was 
thrust  aside  and  the  public  use  of  the  Prayer-book  for- 
bidden. The  people  assembled  in  churches,  but  it  was 
to  find  some  Presbyterian,  Independent,  or  even  Baptist 
preacher  in  possession  of  the  pulpit,  who  would  pray 
extemporaneously  for  the  hour  together,  and  preach  at 
great  length,  many  of  them  in  excellent  discourse, 
learned,  devout,  and  eloquent.  Their  congregations 
had  in  fact  assembled  not  so  much  to  worship  as  to  be 
taught  by  one  who  was  minister  rather  than  priest. 
Lectures  as  a  means  of  instruction  were  much  in  favour 
with  these  Divines,  when  discussions  would  be  permitted. 
All  this  should  be  borne  in  mind,  as  we  read,  in  Friends' 
histories,  of  the  three-score  missionaries  in  their  cam- 
paign, entering  churches,  sometimes  interrupting,  but 


32 


THE  FRIENDS. 


mostlj'  waiting  till  the  minister  had  finished,  when  the 
rough  handling  received,  came  not  so  much  as  a  punish- 
ment for  this  conduct  in  a  place  of  worship,  as  from 
the  objection  taken  hy  the  minister  and  congregation 
to  their  doctrine.  It  is  observable  that  after  the 
Commonwealth  days,  when  Episcopalian  ministers  had 
regained  their  pulpits,  and  Liturgical  services  were  re- 
established by  law,  no  repetition  of  these  scenes  that 
at  one  time  were  so  frequent,  is  observable. 

Cromwell's  government,  whilst  it  gave  England  a 
measure  of  outward  peace  and  jirosperity  at  home  and 
abroad,  effected  no  settlement  of  her  religious  difficulties 
either  by  establishment  of  any  one  form,  or  that  tolera- 
tion for  all  forms  which  he  professed  as  his  aim.  The 
various  religious  bodies  struggled  over  possessions  of 
pulpits,  ])arishes,  and  tithes,  each  one  as  it  gained  any 
power  oppressing  the  other,  and  all  in  turn  and  some- 
times all  at  once  striving  to  uproot  and  disperse  the 
Friends. 

Such  of  these  as  travelled  in  the  ministry  were 
frequently  arrested  as  Vagrants,  and  as  they  could  not 
swear  to  the  oath  of  allegiance  when  it  was  tendered 
them  were  sent  to  prison  as  persons  dangerous  to  the 
State,  often  on  account  of  their  want  of  outward  rever- 
ence to  the  magistrates  in  keeping  on  their  hats  when 
in  court.  Those  who  for  conscientious  reasons  could 
not  pay  Tithes  suffered  great  loss  of  goods  by  distraints, 
and  thus  for  one  or  another  cause  the  days  of  the 
Commonwealth  were  hard  times  for  tender  consciences. 

Their  persistent  practice  in  meeting  together  en- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


33 


countered  also  the  jealousy  of  the  military  governors 
Cromwell  set  over  the  counties,  lest  such  gatherings 
should  be  nurseries  of  Sedition  as  many  then  were,  but 
Friends  kept  theirs  clear  of  politics,  and  held  firmly 
to  the  principle  of  yielding  obedience  in  all  things  civil 
"  to  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you." 

George  Fox  was,  however,  sent  prisoner  by  one  of 
these  military  governors  to  Oliver  Cromwell  in  London, 
where  he  was  examined  personally  by  the  great  Pro- 
tector, who,  after  hearing  his  doctrine,  grasped  him  by 
the  hand  and  wished  he  could  have  more  of  his  com- 
pany, telling  his  people  to  see  that  he  had  some  dinner 
before  he  left,  and  when  he  heard  that  this  had  been 
declined,  said,  "  Now  I  see  a  people  has  arisen  that  I 
cannot  win,  as  I  can  all  others,  by  gifts  and  honours." 
He  could  not  bribe  the  Friends,  and  to  his  discredit  let 
the  ministers  and  magistrates  persecute  them,  but  with- 
out eflEecting  their  dispersion  ;  such  treatment  only 
consolidated  them  more  closely  into  a  Society,  for  there 
is  no  human  fellowship  like  companionship  in  suffer- 
ing, and  Friends  grew  in  numbers  mightily. 


CHAPTER  y. 


I'HE  EARLY  MISSIONARIES— Co/(//?l»e«?. 

"  In  our  days,"  writes  Robert  Barclay,  "  God  hath  raised  up 
witnesses  for  Himself,  as  he  did  fishermen  of  old,  many,  j-ea, 
most  of  whom  are  labouring  and  mechanic  men,  who,  altogether 
without  that  learning,  have  by  the  Power  and  Spirit  of  God  struck 
at  the  very  root  .  .  .  and  by  reaching  their  consciences, 
gathered  thousands  into  the  same  power  and  life  who,  as  to  tl:e 
outward  part,  have  been  far  more  knowing  than  they,  yet  not  able 
to  resist  the  virtue  that  proceeded  from  them." 


ILLIAM  AMES  had  a  quick  understanding  and 


'  agreeable  manners,  and  held,  in  early  life,  a  com- 
mission in  the  Parliamentary  army,  where  he  was  careful 
to  preserve  strict  discipline  among  those  under  his  com- 
mand, having  himself  forsaken  the  gaieties  of  youth 
under  strong  religious  convictions.  He  was  one  of  the 
early  converts  to  Friends'  views,  and  as  a  zealous 
preacher  did  excellent  service  during  many  years  of 
Ills  life  in  spreading  them  not  only  in  England,  but  in 
Holland  and  parts  of  Germany.  His  latter  years  were 
spent  in  Amsterdam,  where  he  settled  in  business  as  a 
wool-comber. 

John  AudUind,  born  in  Westmoreland,  possessed 
superior  abilities,  and  had  gained  a  considerable  re- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


35 


pntation  as  a  preacher  among  the  Independents,  but 
found  the  Friends'  views  led  him  into  a  deeper  and 
more  spiritual  experience  of  his  Saviour's  life  and 
power,  of  which  he  became  a  most  zealous  advocate, 
finding  especial  acceptance  with  the  people  in  Bristol, 
who  crowded  to  hear  him  in  meetings  that  for  want  of 
space  were  held  in  an  orchard,  and  converts  gathered 
80  fast  that  it  was  said  "  their  net  was  like  to  break 
with  fishes,  they  had  caught  so  many." 

John  Camm,  who  was  his  companion  in  much  of 
this  service,  came  also  from  Westmoreland.  He  was 
married  and  possessed  of  an  independence,  but  gave 
himself  to  this  itinerancy  with  great  zeal,  encountering 
joyfully  hardships  that  weakened  his  constitution. 

Wm.  Dewsburij,  was  a  Yorkshireman,  a  shepherd, 
clothier,  and  a  soldier,  endowed  with  great  qualifica- 
tions both  natural  and  spiritual,  fervent  yet  deep,  calm 
and  sagacious,  weighty  in  counsel,  courageous  in  suf- 
fering. To  England's  shame,  he  spent  much  of  his 
time  in  prison,  which  for  the  cause  of  his  Saviour  he 
entered  as  willingly  as  if  it  were  a  palace,  and  told  his 
friends  who  pitied  him  his  loss  of  liberty  that  these 
bolts  and  bars  were  as  jewels  to  his  spirit,  so  greatly 
was  he  upheld  to  triumph  over  all  outward  sufferings. 

Giles  Barnardiston,  a  Suffolk  gentleman,  well 
Educated  and  well  married,  once  a  Colonel  in  the 
A.rmy,  was  another  of  these  preachers  by  whom  great 
Bufferings  were  endured  (chiefly  in  the  Eastern  Coun- 
ties), from  which  it  might  have  been  thought  his  social 
reputation  and  character  would  have  exempted  him. 


36 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


Francis  Eowgill,  from  "Westmoreland,  travelled 
chiefly  with  Edward  Borrough  through  most  parts  of 
England.  His  gifts  in  the  ministry  were  bo  extra- 
ordinary as  to  render  him  conspicuous  in  the  Friends' 
annals  as  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  the  Society. 

William  Caton  and  John  Stuhhs  were  oft  com- 
panions in  gospel  travels  and  service  ;  both  were  from 
the  North.  "Wm.  Caton  was  one  of  Judge  Fell's  pupils 
— his  companion  (of  sterner  mould)  had  been  a  soldier. 
They  had  most  success  in  Kent  amidst  treatment  from 
authorities  such  as  rogues  only  deserve.  Ashamed  of 
such  conduct,  Luke  Howard  gave  them  the  shelter  of 
his  house,  and  successfully  challenged  the  constables 
to  attempt  any  violation  of  its  legal  sanctity.  [He  was 
the  ancestor  of  the  Howard  firm  of  Manufacturing 
Chemists]. 

Samuel  Fisher,  who  lived  in  Kent  as  a  beneficed 
clergyman,  gave  up  all  preferment  and  became  known 
as  an  able  defender  of  Friends'  views  in  Conferences 
and  by  his  published  works,  which  show  great  ability 
and  deep  learning. 

Josiah  Coale,  a  gentleman  of  Gloucester,  possessed 
of  property,  lived  and  died  a  bachelor,  giving  all  his 
time  and  substance  to  the  advancement  of  the  Cause 
he  had  embraced.  He  was  one  who  travelled  to 
America,  where  he  preached  to  the  Indians.  He  i» 
remembered  as  cheerful  and  social  in  temperament, 
sharp  and  piercing  in  handling  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
very  patient  under  sufferings  and  trials  in  England,  in 
America,  and  in  Holland,  ending  his  days  at  the  early 


THE  FRIENDS. 


37 


age  of  thirty-five,  but  able  to  rejoice  at  the  glorious 
prospect  death  opened  before  him.  "  It  had  been  his 
life  and  joy,"  writes  one  who  knew  him,  "  to  declare 
the  gospel  and  to  proclaim  the  Word  of  God,"  and 
adds,  "  with  what  a  charming  and  melodious  voice  did 
he  sound  forth  the  praises  of  the  Most  High  in  his 
public  prayers." 

Thomas  Loe  was  another  gentleman.  He  had  had 
a  university  education.  His  truly  successful  labours 
m  the  spreading  of  Friends'  principles  wherever  ho 
•travelled  were  remarkable  as  being  the  means  of 
/William  Penn  forsaking  the  prospects  of  a  courtier 
(and  man  of  fashion,  which  life  had  opened  to  him,  for 
that  of  a  Society  in  which  he  became  so  prominent  a 
member.  Thomas  Loe's  affable  manners,  tender  sym- 
pathy and  benevolent  disposition  were  natural  qualifi- 
cations which  greatly  endeared  him  to  his  Friends, 
whilst  great  Spiritual  discernment  enabled  him  to 
expound  the  word  aright  to  their  comfort  and  advance- 
ment in  religious  life. 

Alexander  Parker  is  described  as  one  comely  in 
person  with  a  gentleman-like  carriage  and  deportment ; 
he  was  from  Bolton  and  well  educated.  After  some 
time  spent  in  travel  in  the  ministry  he  married  and 
settled  in  London  where  he  was  prominent  among 
those  engaged  in  the  settlement  of  the  Society's  con- 
stitution, being  a  very  able  and  dependable  man. 

Robert  Lodge  and  John  Burnyeat,  both  from  the 
North,  were  companions  in  gospel  journeys,  trials  and 
sufferings,  the  former  so  ready  to  yield  to  a  sense  of 


THE  FRIENDS. 


iluty  as  to  say  ou  his  death  bed  "  The  Lord  knew  he 
had  never  refused  to  go  wherever  a  sense  of  it  had 
drawn  him,"  he  was  of  an  amiable  disposition,  circum- 
spect conversation,  and  had  an  excellent  gift  in  the 
-Xiinistry.  John  Burnyeat  had  passed  through  deep 
spiritual  experiences,  J.V  was  of  a  deliberate  and  de- 
liberative disposition,  frequently  waiting  long  in  the 
congregations  before  he  felt  any  commission  to  speak, 
which  added  much  to  the  impressiveness  of  his  elo- 
quent addresses.  He  laboured  much  and  long,  having 
a  strong  constitution  and  an  undaunted  spirit  that  bore 
him  up  through  great  trials  under  which  weaker 
frames  broke  doAvn.  He  spent  his  time  mostly  in  the 
Lord's  work  and  service,  visiting  Friends  up  and  down 
in  England,  Wales,  Scotland,  Barbadoes,  New  England, 
Long  and  Rhode  Islands,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey, 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  married  and 
settled  in  .Ireland,  where  he  also  encountered  great 
hardships  through  the  ardour  with  which  he  prose- 
cuted the  holy  Cause  he  had  embraced. 

Thomas  Aldam  was  a  gentleman  of  means  from 
Doncaster  and  an  earnest  and  most  judicious  labourer 
in  the  Society  to  which  he  attached  himself  from  its 
earliest  stages.  He  was  at  the  pains  by  travel  to  collect 
facts  as  to  Friends'  sufferings  and  laid  these  before 
Cromwell,  but  seeing  no  hope  of  his  interference  for 
their  relief  tore  his  own  cap  in  the  Protector's  presence, 

/  /  saying,  "  So  shall  the  government  be  rent  from  Thee 

'  '  and  Thy  house." 

The  two  brothers  Christopher  and  Thomas  TcDjlor, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


39 


of  Shipton,  hud  great  abilities  and  a  learning  that 
qualified  them  to  be  schoolmasters,  and  as  such  they 
were  some  of  the  earliest  to  undertake  this  office  among 
the  Friends  and  are  remembered  more  for  such  service 
than  in  ministerial  or  evangelistic  labours. 

Richard  Huhherthorn,  a  yeoman  from  Lancashire, 
is  a  name  conspicuous  among  the  early  ministers,  for 
although  he  had  not  a  strong  constitution,  his  labours 
were  extensive,  and  notwithstanding  the  natural  weak- 
ness of  his  voice,  his  ministry  was  of  a  kind  that  pro- 
duced great  convincement.  He  grieved  much  over  the 
suflEerings  caused  by  persecutions,  and  had  interviews 
with,  and  received  promises  of  relief  from  the  king, 
only  to  find  how  unreliable  was  the  royal  word  that 
ought  to  have  been  sacred  to  truth.  He  himself  died  a 
prisoner. 

I'homas  Saltlwiise  was  a  domestic  in  the  Fell 
family,  and  had  much  acceptance  in  his  travels  and 
Gospel  labours,  for  his  disposition  was  affable  and 
pleasant,  his  manners  pleasing,  and  his  ministry  sound 
and  powerful. 

Miles  Halhead  travelled  with  Thomas  Salthouse, 
and  came  from  the  same  district.  Their  chief  work  lay 
in  the  far  West,  to  the  gaining  of  many,  but  to  their  own 
sufferings,  from  ill-treatment  and  cruel  imprisonments. 

Samuel  Waldenjield  was  from  Suffolk,  and  possessed 
independent  means.  He  travelled  much  in  the  ministry, 
both  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Germany,  in  all 
about  40,000  miles,  and  had  a  great  reputation  in  th© 
society  for  his  varied  qualifications. 


40 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Christopher  Story  is  remembered  specially  for  liis 
sound  judgment  and  ability  in  the  hearing  and  settle- 
ment of  differences  submitted  to  his  arbitration. 

Alexander  Arscott,  of  Bristol,  the  son  of  a  clergy- 
man, had  a  university  education  and  his  services  were 
much  valued  as  a  schoolmaster. 

Samuel  Overton,  though  only  ?  labourer's  son  in 
social  position,  had  so  sound  a  judgment  as  to  be  help- 
ful in  the  discipline. 

John  Gurney,  of  Norwich,  was  possessed  of  many 
and  excellent  qualities.  A  gentleman  and  a  scholar, 
his  eloquence  made  it  a  delight  to  sit  under  his  ministry, 
yet  he  sought  not  popularity. 

Benjamin  Bangs  waa  another  eminent  minister, 
fervent  in  supplications,  grave  in  deportment,  but 
jileasing  in  manners.  He  spent  most  of  his  life  as  a 
travelling  minister, 

James  Dickenson,  of  Cumberland,  also  travelled 
much  and  far  and  was  three  times  in  America  ;  a  very 
serviceable  and  faithful  minister,  humble,  circumspect, 
and  of  godly  conversation. 

Such  characters  as  these  glisten  amid  the  records 
of  the  Society's  rise  and  rapid  increase  during  its  earlier 
years,  and  ought  to  remove  the  unfavourable  impression, 
if  anywhere  remaining,  which  the  fanatical  excesses  of 
a  few  passing  under  the  Society's  name  may  have 
caused. 

No  movement  so  wide-spread  as  this  could  occur 
in  such  an  excited  state  of  public  feeling  without  in- 
stances of  imprudent  or  even  reproachful  conduct,  the 


NAVI.ER  (from  an  OLD  PRINT. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


41 


blame  of  which  should  rest  with  Individuals  rather 
than  be  associated  with  a  Community  whose  leaders 
are  seen  to  be  persons  of  highest  principle  and  their 
efforts  directed  to  secure  consolidation  into  settled 
congregations  where  all  might  be  done  "  decently  and 
in  order." 

Hence  there  is  no  occasion  to  give  account  of  some 
who  made  undressed  ?ippearances  in  the  public  thorough- 
tares  or  of  those  who  carried  out  signs  of  warning  or 
prophetic  denunciation  much  in  imitation  of  the  old 
Hebrew  prophets  ;  the  wonder  being  not  so  much  that 
tliese  scenes  occasionally  occurred,  as  that  they  were 
few  and  that  the  Friends  could  be  kept  so  peaceable, 
notwithstanding  the  shocking  cruelties  inflicted  upon 
them,  as  to  have  earned  the  abiding  reputation  of  being 
a  "  quiet  and  highly  respectable  body." 

One  case,  however,  is  too  much  of  public  notoriety 
to  be  thus  passed  by  without  acknowledging  that  James 
Nayler  gave  great  cause  of  grief' for  his  reproachful 
conduct.  He  had  been  a  landed  proprietor  near  Wake- 
field, Yorkshire,  and  was  engaged  in  ploughing  his 
fields  with  his  own  team,  when  he  felt  the  summons  to 
leave  his  all,  that  he  might  proclaim  Christ  and  his 
Kingdom  in  the  heart.  Such  was  his  unquestioning 
obedience  that,  without  going  home  to  take  leave  of 
wife  and  family,  he  at  once  set  out  out  on  this  evan- 
gelistic mission,  which  became  marked  with  so  much 
spiritual  fervour  and  success,  and  alas  stained  by  a 
reproach  brought  on  his  friends  that  not  even  his 
repentance  can  wholly  remove.    None  of  the  fraternity 


42 


THE  FRIENDS. 


of  early  Friend  preachers  had  had  a  larger  share  cf 
popularity.  E  s  eloquent  discourses  drew  crowds  of 
admiring  listeners,  often  from  those  moving  in  the 
higher  circles,  as  it  surprised  them  to  find  one  in  the 
dress  and  manners  of  a  countryman  possessed  of  such 
oratorical  powers  on  the  loftiest  themes  that  can  engage 
man's  affections.  A  chief  subject  being  the  indwelling 
of  Christ  by  His  Spirit  in  the  heart  of  the  believer,  he 
became,  through  the  wicked  flatteries  of  some  fanatical 
followers,  beguiled  into  a  conception  that  he  was  in 
himself  a  manifestation  of  Christ,  which  it  is  said  the 
form  of  his  visage  favoured  from  being  so  like  to 
artistic  presentments  of  that  of  the  Saviour.  He  went 
so  far  as  to  permit  a  few  of  these  deluded  ones  to  parody 
the  Triumphal  entry  by  leading  their  favourite  seated 
on  an  ass  into  Bristol,  whilst  they  shouted  Hosannas 
to  him  amid  the  excited  crowd. 

The  result  of  such  actions  in  these  days  would  have 
been  to  subject  those  engaged  in  them  to  medical  treat- 
ment in  some  pauper  lunatic  Asylum.  But  then  it  was 
regarded  as  a  criminal  offence  of  such  importance  as 
for  James  Nayler  to  be  sent  up  to  London,  for  a  Parlia- 
mentary Committee  to  inquire  into  and  judge  the  case. 

By  them  he  was  condemned  as  a  blasphemer  to  be 
pilloried,  branded,  and  whipped.  Public  opinion  evi- 
dently considered  this  as  cruel  treatment,  for  a  merchant 
of  the  City  stood  by  him  in  the  pillory,  and  the  people 
neither  jeered  at  nor  pelted  him  as  is  usual  in  such 
cases,  with  refuse  and  rotten  eggs.  They  saw  with 
surprise  how  the  sufferer  forgivingly  kissed  the  exe. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


43 


cutioner  who  bored  his  tongue  and  branded  his  noble 
brow.  The  succeeding  whippings  twice  given — once 
through  the  streets  of  London  and  again  through  those 
of  Bristol — almost  killed  him  with  their  severity.  His 
undaunted  spirit  uttered  neither  murmur  nor  groan  as 
the  hangman  lashed  and  gashed  his  bared  back  and 
sides,  whilst  with  hands  tied  to  the  cart  its  horse  dragged 
him  slowly  along.  There  is  however  a  bright  sequel 
(which  those  who  reproach  him  too  little  remember), 
for  he  was  brought  to  deep  repentance  and  condemna- 
tion of  his  errors,  which  led  to  the  entire  forgiveness  of 
his  friends.  At  his  death  (which  occurred  not  very  long 
after)  there  was  found  a  paper  beautifully  expressive  of 
his  altered  sentiments  : 

"  There  is  a  Spirit  which  I  feel 

That  delights  to  do  no  evil 

Nor  to  revenge  any  wrong, 

But  delights  to  endure  all  things, 

In  hope  to  enjoy  its  own  in  the  end. 

In  God  alone  it  can  rejoice  ; 

I  found  it  alone — being  forsaken 

I  have  fellowship  therein  with  them 

Who  lived  in  dens  and  desolate  places  in  the  oarth, 

"Who  through  Death  obtained  this  resurrection 

And  Eternal  Holy  Life." 

Another  instance  of  one  who  came  also  from  the 
fields,  but  was  only  a  lad  and  the  son  of  a  labourer,  is 
marked  by  almost  equal  cruelty  as  Nayler's,  but  wholly 
undeserved,  for  James  Parnel  was  a  holy  youth,  with 
a  mind  and  ability  above  his  position.  Whilst  but  a 
little  lad,  as  George  Fox  calls  him,  he  became  a  preacher 
of  great  power  in  the  Eastern  Counties  where  he 


44 


THE  FRIENDS. 


travelled.  It  seems  scarcely  credible,  but  after  his 
arrest,  he  was  brought  up  for  trial  in  chains  like  a 
common  felon,  under  charge  of  being  a  heretic  and, 
therefore,  dangerous  to  the  State.  He  was  condemned 
and  fined  as  a  Vagabond,  and  for  non-payment  of 
this  fine  left  to  the  cruelty  of  the  keeper  of  Colchester 
Castle,  where  the  hole  in  the  wall  in  which  he  was 
confined  is  to  this  day  an  object  of  melancholy  interest 
to  its  visitors.  At  that  time  it  was  only  reached  by  a 
ladder,  and  this  so  short  that  he  had  to  climb  the  upper 
part  by  a  rope,  and  one  day.  missing  his  hold  through 
weakness,  fell  to  the  pavement  below  with  a  broken 
leg,  that  for  want  of  proper  treatment,  soon  ended  his 
days.  He  fell  like  Stephen  an  early  martyr  to  the 
cause  he  had  so  ardently  espoused.  The  only  offenr*> 
Ids  persecutors  could  find  against  him  was  the  con- 
fidence with  which  he  had  asserted  the  conscious 
presence  of  Him  in  his  heart,  whom  Stephen  saw  amid 
opened  heavens. 

"  Sublimer  in  this  world,  know  I  nothing  "  (writes 
i  Carlyle)  "  than  a  peasant  saint.    Such  a  one  will  take 
':  thee  back  to  Nazareth  itself.    Thou  wilt  see  the  splen- 
'  dour  of  heaven  spring  forth  from  the  humblest  depths 
of  earth,  like  a  light  shining  in  great  darkness." 

As  further  illustrating  the  youthful  age  of  some 
engaged  in  this  ministry  are  the  instances  of — 

George  Newland,  a  youth  of  Ireland,  who  entered 
upon  a  gospel  service  in  his  twelfth  year,  to  the  com- 
fort and  edification  of  his  friends,  and  died  in  his 
nineteenth,  Ellis  Lewis,  of  Wales,  was  similarly  engaged 


THE  FRIENDS. 


45 


at  13,  William  Hunt,  of  North  Carolina,  at  14,  and 
Christiana  Barclay,  daughter  of  the  Apologist,  when 
about  fourteen. 

The  Society  of  Friends  in  the  counties  of  Norfolk, 
Suffolk,  Essex,  and  Cambridge  was  first  raised  and  be- 
came very  numerous  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality 
of  James  Parnel,  William  Caton,  and  George  White- 
head, before  any  of  them  had  attained  the  age  of  20  years. 

Much  wise  counsel  remains  in  Documents  issued 
by  these  brethren  when  in  conference,  together  with 
earnest  cautions  against  seeking  popularity  or  self- 
exaltation.  "  Our  labour  and  travail  hath  been  and 
otill  is  to  preach  Christ  as  servants  for  His  sake,  and 
to  gather  to  Him  and  not  to  ourselves." 

Not  a  few  women  Friends  had  their  part  in  this 
ministry,  some  of  whom  travelled  far  and  wide,  such 
as  Ann  Downer,  Mary  Fisher,  Isabel  Buttery,  Ann 
Austin,  Elizabeth  Hooton,  with  many  others- 
preachers,  as  well  as  mothers  in  ths  So-^iety's  Israel. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PERSECUTION  UKDER  MONARCHY. 


"There  are  many  religions  in  the  world  and  a  variety  of  forms 
Trhich  have  occasioned  great  persecutions  and  the  loss  of  many 
lives,  each  contending  that  they  are  right :  but  there  is  but  one 
true  religion,  arising  from  faith  in  God  and  in  His  son  Jesus 
Christ  and  hope  in  His  mercy."— THOMAS  GILPIN. 


ITH  the  death  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  England,  tired 


of  unsettlements  which  only  a  military  genius 
could  control,  reverted  as  by  common  consent  to  the 
restoration  of  the  monarchy  by  inviting  Charles  the 
Second  to  his  father's  throne. 

He  came  amid  general  rejoicings,  for  his  promisee 
gave  assurance  that  all  of  various  opinions  in  religion 
might  have  liberty  to  worship  in  their  own  way  if  loyal 
and  peaceable  in  conduct.  Such  prospects  vanished 
as  a  dream  when  it  was  perceived  he  chose  his  coun- 
sellors from  amongst  those  of  high  views  in  Church 
and  State  under  which  arrangements  orders  were 
issued  to  re-establish  the  English  Liturgy  and  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  in  all  parish  churches,  and  to  use  no 
other.  This  decree  dispossessed  2.000  clergymen  of 
their  Livings,  who,  with  commendable  exercise  of  their 
conscientious  scruples,  preferred  to  give  up  their  posi- 
tion rather  than  make  use  in  worship  of  a  ritual  and 
ceremonies  they  could  not  approve. 

This  exodus  from  the  parish  pulpits  carried  with 
it  no  prohibition  to  the  dispossessed  ministers  perform- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


47 


in:^  worship  elsewhere,  and  hopes  yet  remained  of 
(ok- ration  for  Non-conformists  which  a  sad  outbreak  of 
Fifth  Monarchy  men  in  London  frustrated. 

These  fanatical  persons  had  associated  with  their 
religious  views  wild  political  ideas,  in  the  belief  that 
King  Jesus  was  come  to  reign,  that  they  were  His 
saints,  and  that  he  would  found  through  them  the 
last,  or  fifth  and  all-prevailing  monarchy  over  the 
world. 

For  this  purpose  their  meeting-houses  were  armories 
for  store  of  hostile  weapons,  and  one  Sabbath  morning 
all  London  was  thrown  into  a  fright  by  their  issuing 
out  into  the  streets,  where  they  attacked  and  routed 
the  City  Militia,  and  killed  or  wounded  those  who 
opposed  them. 

Their  numbers,  however,  were  but  few,  and  so 
soon  as  the  military  could  be  brought  against  them  all 
were  either  killed  or  captured  to  die  the  death  of  traitors 
on  the  scaffold,  but  their  wicked  conduct  served  as  a 
pretext  for  those  who  directed  the  King's  policy  to  ob- 
tain Acts  of  Parliament  prohibiting  all  meetings  for 
worship  other  than  those  in  Churches  as  gatherings 
dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  realm. 

By  these  Acts,  Friends'  meetings  met  with  special 
prohibition,  although  the  Fifth  Monarchy  men  declared 
in  their  dying  moments,  that  the  Society  had  no  con- 
nection with  their  violent  designs. 

The  authorities  under  the  conviction  that  no  secure 
"government  was  possible  without  obtaining  uniformity 
in  religious  practice,  and  having  settled  on  a  church 


THE  FRIENDS. 


aystem,  invested  the  magistrates  with  powers  to  prohibit 
hU  other  assemblies  than  those  held  in  churches.  In  no 
^-rivate  house  were  more  than  five  beyond  those  of  the 
household,  ever  to  be,  on  any  pretext,  assembled  to- 
gether, under  pain  of  fines  which  rose  from  £5  for  the 
first  offence  higher  and  higher  each  time  it  was  re- 
peated, until  the  incorrigible  were  to  undergo  the 
penalty  of  transportation.  If  these  fines  were  not  paid 
distraints  could  be  made  on  goods,  or  the  individual  be 
subjected  to  imprisonment.  Such  powers  placed  in 
the  hands  of  justices  and  magistrates,  caused  great 
sufferings  all  over  the  country  to  those,  who,  like  the 
Friends,  could  not  in  conscience  forsake  their  Meetings, 
r.or  as  some  others  did,  meet  in  secret,  bat  mast  attend 
ihem  openly  in  defiance  of  these  unrighteous  laws,  and 
the  prisons,  as  a  sad  consequence,  were  filled  w':h 
Friends. 

They  of  all  others,  cugbt  to  have  been  exempt 
from  the  power  of  this  legal  machinery,  since  its  pro- 
ifessed  object  was  to  crush  out  riotous  assemblies,  or 
{such  as  were  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  stability  of 
the  government,  which  character  none  could  ever  find 
in  the  quietude  of  a  Friends'  meeting. 

But  Friends'  doctrine  in  dispensing  with  all  church 
ceremonies  was  obnoxious  to  the  clergy,  who  inflamed 
I  lie  justices  and  magistrates  against  them,  lest  their 
•,'reat  numbers  and  prevalence  throughout  the  nation, 
sliould  make  impossible  that  Unity  in  church  and  state, 
without  which,  it  was  asterted,  no  firm  Government 
could  exist.    Thus  aroused,  the  authorities  (who  were 


JijllS    LILl'.UKNE   (KKOM   AX   (;LU  I'KINl.) 


THE  FKIENDS. 


49 


themselves  churchmen)  put  relentlessly  in  force 
these  legalised  forms  of  oppression  to  crush  out  a 
religious  society,  whose  members,  though  loyal  and 
peaceable  in  conduct,  would  not  refrain  from  meeting 
together. 

Even  now,  in  England  with  all  its  freedom,  a 
social  ban,  indefinable,  yet  none  the  less  felt,  alEects 
those  who  cannot  conscientiously  unite  in  the  forms  of 
the  state  religion.  But  two  centuries  ago  a  legalised 
torture  was  applied  with  the  avowed  object  of  crushing 
out  such  a  community  as  the  Friends,  who  could  not, 
at  whatever  it  might  cost  them  in  their  property,  their 
freedom,  or  even  their  lives,  give  up  their  meetings,  or 
pay  pi'iests'-dues,  or  take  any  Oaths. 

How  this  last  could  affect  them  may  now  seem 
ESrauge,  but  it  then  was  the  cause  of  their  greatest 
suffering,  because  anyone  might  in  those  days  be  called 
:;pon  by  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  to  show  his  loyalty 
by  taking  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy.  Its 
refusal  involved  no  less  a  penalty  than  imprisonment 
for  life  or  at  the  King's  pleasure,  which  was  a  fearful 
system  of  tyranny  in  the  hands  of  a  prejudiced  and 
bigoted  Magistracy, 

Such  formidable  powers  were  granted  in  the  days 
of  Gunpowder  Plot  to  detect  Catholic  rebels  plotting  to 
i-eetore  the  Pope's  power  in  England,  and  having 
never  been  repealed  were  now  turned  against  the 
Friends,  who  though  neither  dangerous  or  disloyal 
(but  much  the  contrary),  yet  because  they  could  not 
swear  this  Oath,  all  the  penalcies  of  its  ief').s.'ii  were 


THR  FRIENDS. 


laid  upon  them  as  much  as  if  they  had  made  their 
religious  scruples  a  cloak  to  dangerous  designs. 

It  seemed  impossible  to  remove  this  idea  from  the 
minds  of  prejudiced  authorities.  When  one  of  these 
asked,  "How  are  we  then  to  tell  the  difference  be- 
tween you  and  the  Catholic,  who  will  not  swear  this 
oath  because  of  his  being  against  us  ?  "  he  was  told, 
"There  is  this  difference  between  us  and  the  Catholics; 
they  will  swear  to  recover  a  debt  or  a  stolen  cow,  but 
we  will  never  take  an  oath  even  to  recover  Avhat  is  due 
to  us,  for  our  Saviour  forbids  swearing.  Our  word 
is  as  good  as  our  bond,  and  we  are  ever  ready  to  give 
in  a  declaration  of  our  true  loyalty  to  the  King  and  his 
Government."  But  these  explanations,  however  clear 
to  the  unprejudiced  mind,  were  of  no  use  with  Autho- 
rities whose  set  purpose  was  the  extinguishment  of  all 
religious  societies  other  than  the  Episcopal.  With 
which  object  fresh  measures  were  taken.  "  There  is  a 
new  Statute,"  said  Judge  Turner  to  Francis  Howgill, 
"  that  will  soon  make  you  fewer." 

Knowing  the  wide-spread  devastations  such  would 
oause,  some  of  the  leading  Friends  used  great  efforts 
with  Members  of  Parliament  to  oppose  this  new  legal 
machinery,  and  four  of  their  number  obtained  per- 
mission to  plead  their  cause  at  the  Bar  of  the  House  of 
Commons — which  was  accomplished  in  so  able  and 
dignified  a  manner  by  these  earnest  youths  that  many 
Members  appeared  inclined  to  favour  their  suit— but 
the  opposing  party  were  too  strong,  and  Friends  were 
left  to  the  dire  consequences  attending  their  keeping 


THE  DUNGEON  AT  vv\...vi..K  v.-||i.,.i-,  M..:.  . 

EARLY  FRIENDS  WERE  CONFINED. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


51 


up  of  their  religious  meetings  in  defiance  of  these  new 
and  more  oppressive  laws  against  them. 

Grievous  cases  of  suffering  ensued  as  the  gaols 
filled  quickly  with  Friends.  There  were  as  many  as 
4,230  throughout  the  country,  who  were  thrust — as 
if  no  better  than  felons — into  gaols  and  prisons,  so 
filthy  and  so  wretched,  that  England's  shame  was  roused 
when  a  Howard  about  a  century  later  exposed  their  con- 
dition. One  of  these  at  Warwick,  where  the  sweet  spirited 
and  loving  William  Dewsbury  was  for  many  years  con- 
fined, is  described  by  a  prison  reformer  in  1815,  as  an 
"  offensive  vault,"  having  "  only  light  and  air  from  a 
grating  at  top."  The  chief  prisons  in  London  were 
abominable  in  accommodation  and  abominably  managed 
— their  keepers  were  persons  of  a  low  character,  only 
required  to  provide  free  straw  for  sleeping  on,  and 
bread  and  water  for  diet — but  they  might  sell  to  each 
prisoner  whatever  comforts  he  inclined  to  buy,  and 
thus  made  their  living.  The  Friends  regarding  them- 
selves as  innocent  and  their  imprisonment  unjust, 
scrupled  to  make  any  such  terms  with  the  jailor,  who 
consequently  gave  them  the  worst  accommodation  and 
treatment,  and  many  died  in  prison. 

Thomas  Ellwood,  a  gentleman  of  good  means,  who 
for  being  a  Friend  and  attending  their  meetings  had  to 
spend  some  time  in  Newgate,  has  left  in  his  published 
journal  a  graphic  account  of  the  state  of  this  prison 
which  may  well  account  for  the  mortality  prevailing 
in  them.  In  the  night  they  were  lodged  in  f  ne  room, 
sleeping  in  hammocks,  hung  in  three  rows  on'>  over  the 


52 


THE  FRIENDS. 


other,  '*  the  phice  was  so  filled  with  breath  and  steam 
fi-om  so  many  bodies  of  different  ages,  conditions  and 
constitutions  packed  up  so  close  together  as  was  enough 
to  cause  sickness."  Its  loathsomeness  was  such  that 
during  1662  and  the  two  subsequent  years,  no  less  than 
52  of  these  prisoners  died  from  disease  contracted 
there. 

Richard  Hubberthorn,  who  was  one  of  those  valiant 
four  who  had  pleaded  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
Avas  imprisoned  in  one  of  these  jails,  and  not  having  a 
strong  constitution,  soon  fell  into  mortal  sickness,  and 
had  to  be  carried  out  for  burial  like  so  many  others. 

Edward  Burrough,  whose  services  in  London  and 
in  street  preaching  have  been  mentioned,  who  also  was 
one  of  the  pleaders  with  Parliament,  came  back  from 
Ireland  (whither  he  had  gone)  that  he  might  encourage 
his  beloved  London  Friends  in  holding  their  meetings. 
As  a  consequence  he  was  soon  one  of  these  prisoners  in 
Newgate,  where,  owing  to  its  shameful  condition,  he 
fell  grievously  ill,  and  here  this  earnest  preacher, — a 
t^on  of  thunder  and  consolation — ended  his  days  at  the 
early  age  of  28,  triumphant  in  faith  and  forgiving  all 
Jiis  enemies,  dying  a  martyr  to  the  principles  of 
Christian  Truth  he  had  so  valiantly  advocated. 

"  Your  gaols  we  fear  not,  no,  nor  banishment ; 

Terrors  or  threats  can  ne'er  make  us  lament ; 

For  such  we  are  as  fear  the  living  God, 

Kot  being  vexed  by  persecution's  rod. 

Away,  Hypocrisy  !  begone  false  fear  ! 

Immortal  Life's  the  crown  which  we  do  wear, 

Which  cannot  be  removed  from  us  away. 

That  makes  us  scorn  your  threat'nings  every  day. 

These  are  our  prayers,  and  thus  our  souls  do  cry — 

Let  justice  live,  and  let  oppression  die." 
 Lines  written  whilst  in  Newgate  by  Edward  Bukrocch. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


George  Fox's  iron  constitution  long  withstood  tlio 
rigour  of  an  imprisonment  in  Scarborough's  Castle 
throughout  a  winter  of  great  severitj^  in  a  dungeon 
cell  not  fit  for  man's  habitation,  but  at  length  he  fell 
into  a  state  of  extreme  weakness,  and  nothing  but 
success  attending  earnest  efforts  made  with  the  King 
lor  his  release,  saved  him  from  death.  The  gross  in- 
justice of  his  confinement  was  shown  by  the  governor 
saying  on  his  discharge  that  he  had  found  him  "  pure 
as  a  bell." 

His  bulky  frame  was  now  become  swollen  and 
benumbed  with  long  continued  exposure  to  rain  and 
tempest  on  that  bleak  sea-coast  ;  he  was  helpless  as 
a  child,  and  had  to  be  lifted  on  and  olE  his  horse  ; 
his  limbs  were  racked  with  rheumatic  pain,  each  finger 
w-as  swollen  as  large  as  three  and  nothing  warm  could 
be  taken  for  food. 

Yet  even  in  this  state  of  weakness  the  first  use  he 
made  of  his  liberty  was  to  travel  slowly  towards  London 
to  attend  to  the  welfare  of  his  Friends. 

He  found  the  City  in  all  the  distress  and  desolation 
of  the  last  of  three  misfortunes  that  had  befallen  it, 
misfortunes  that  to  some  minds  were  as  judgments  for 
the  miseries  inflicted  on  Eeligious  Dissentients.  She 
had  been  ravaged  by  a  plague  of  such  violence  as  still  to 
be  known  as  the  great  plague  of  London.  Her  river 
had  been  invaded  by  the  Dutch  fleet  which  had  burnt 
^  inen-of-war  at  Sheerness,  and  now  a  fire  of  nearly  a 
week's  duration  had  raged  over  two-thirds  of  the  City, 
and  laid  houses,  churches,  cathedral,  and  public  build- 

3 


54 


THE  FRIENDS. 


ings  in  ashes,  and  the  prisoner  from  Scarhorongh  saw 
little  around  him  but  blackened  ruins. 

To  him  these  outward  desolations  of  the  citizens 
would  be  scarcely  less  affecting  than  the  lamentable 
results  persecution  had  brought  among  the  commu. 
nities  of  his  Friends  throughout  the  country,  and  hia 
powerful  mind  became  directed  towaid  some  measnrea 
to  prevent  their  further  dispersion. 


CHAPTER  VIT. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  DISCIPLINE. 

TTP  to  this  lime  there  had  been  but  little  of  outward 
organisation  attempted  except  through  General  or 
Quarterly  Meetings,  and  frequent  visits  of  travelling 
ministers.  Now  that  the  number  of  these  Gospel  visitors 
had  been  so  greatly  reduced  by  imprisonment  and  death, 
and  General  Meetings  were  impracticable,  symptoms 
of  disorganisation  and  disintegration  were  appearing 
that  threatened  serious  results.  There  were  divisions  on 
subjects  of  Doctrine  and  Practice,  a  want  of  care  in 
having  marriages  properly  solemnized,  and  feelings 
prevailed  in  favour  of  each  following  what  might  be 
right  in  his  own  eyes — as  if  that  were  the  same  thing 
as  a  being  guided  by  the  '*  Light  within  "  so  earnestly 
proclaimed  by  the  sixty  preachers. 

It  was  under  these  circumstan  jes  that  George  Fox 
advised  arrangements  for  order  and  method  that  have 
.^ever  since  proved  so  effectual  as  to  constitute  him  not 
only  the  originator  of  the  Society,  but  the  founder  of 
its  organic  constitution. 

These  arrangements  were  the  setting  up  of 
Monthly  Meetings,  or  (to  speak  more  plainly)  the 
assembling  together  of  the  leading  Friends  in  a  little 
group  of  meetings  once  a  month  to  enquire  into  the' 


56 


THE  FRIENDS. 


state  of  affairs  and  keep  record  of  their  proceedings  ;  to 
register  all  births,  receive  notices  of  intended  marriages, 
Inquire  into  the  clearness  of  the  parties  concerned,  and 
when  such  had  been  ascertained,  see  that  the  wedding 
was  religiously  conducted,  in  the  presence  of  at  least 
twelve  persons  not  of  the  family  ;  to  inquire  into  and 
relieve  the  necessities  of  poorer  members  or  widows, 
and  see  to  the  proper  education  of  their  children  ;  and 
further  to  hear  and  compose  any  differences,  that 
Friends  might  not  go  to  law  with  one  another  ;  also  to 
deal  with  disorderly  walkers.  Thus  "  all  right-minded 
ones  might  feel  that  on  themselves  it  rested  to  see  that 
all  who  profess  the  truth  do  walk  in  righteousness  and 
holiness,  and  order  their  conversation  aright  as  becometh 
the  household  of  God." 

To  bring  these  arrangements  into  general  practice 
throughout  the  nation  involved  George  Fox  in  arduous 
journeys  over  the  whole  country,  for  the  unsettled  state 
of  the  times  would  not  allow  of  any  general  conference, 
and  Friends'  minds  were  so  sensitive  on  the  subject  of 
individual  guidance  by  the  light  of  Christ  in  their  heart, 
that  nothing  but  the  personal  influence  of  this  heaven- 
ly gifted  man  would  have  induced  them  to  a  general 
compliance  with  these  arrangements.  He  was  able  to 
eliow  them  they  would  prove  a  development  rather  than 
a  contradiction  of  the  principle  of  this  inward  and  in- 
dividual guidance.  Each  one  that  felt  the  divine  power 
in  himself  would  find  it  draw  him  into  association  with 
those  similarly  influenced,  giving  an  accumulative 
strength  for  examining  into  and  dealing  with  matters 


THE  FRIENDS. 


57 


that  concerned  the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  wider 
area  of  a  community.  For  this  object  he  spared  him- 
self no  exertion  in  giving  addresses,  counsel,  or  advice, 
leaving  himself  little  time  for  rest,  and  travelling 
continuously  for  years  together  in  this  arduous  service, 
throughout  the  whole  English  counties. 

He  felt  as  much  under  divine  commission  to 
secure  an  adoption  of  these  arrangements  as  he  ever 
had  for  the  commencement  of  his  ministry,  and  the 
settlement  and  good  order  which  ensued  made  Friends 
thankful  "  in  praise  and  blessing  that  the  Lord  God 
had  sent  him  forth  on  such  a  service  among  them." 

He  afterwards  introduced  in  a  similar  manner 
monthly  meetings  of  "Women  Friends,  which  have 
likewise  been  found  of  great  service  by  enabling 
inquiry  and  council  concerning  affairs  of  their  own 
sex,  which  could  be  more  suitably  conducted  among 
themselves.  These  monthly  meetings  did  not  at  the 
first  possess  any  official  connection  with  one  another, 
but  commenced  their  useful  service  in  an  Independence, 
similar  to  the  churches  of  the  Congregational  body, 
;ind  only  in  course  of  time  has  the  close  association 
t  hat  now  exists  become  established  by  grouping  them 
into  Quarterly  meetings,  and  these  again  into  an 
annual  representative  assembly.  Nevertheless  the 
loonthly  meeting  remains  the  original  Unit  of  the 
Friends'  system.  It  is  the  one  that  admits  and  dis- 
solves membership  of  individuals,  acknowledges 
ministers,  and  appoints  Elders.  It  nominates  repre- 
8  -ntatives  to  the  superior  meetings,  and  whatever  such 


58 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


may  determine  comes  to  it  as  advice  and  not  as 
command. 

Through  these  arrangements  the  Society  became 
consolidated  amid  sufferings  without  and  trials  within, 
that  otherwise  threatened  its  dispersion.  They  have 
proved  effective  through  two  centuries  of  varied 
experience,  and  continue  in  operation  the  same  as 
when  first  established  through  the  protracted,  arduous, 

iand  disinterested  labours  of  George  Fox.  He  sought 
no  honour  to  himself,  nor  like  Wesley,  held  any 
authority  over  them,  his  principle  being  one  of  self- 
<  government  in  a  Unity  that  was  spiritual  rather  than 
external. 

He  rejoiced  to  see  his  friends,  as  he  said  : 
"  possessors  of  the  joyful  order  of  the  joyful  Gospel — 
the  comfortable  order  of  the  comfortable  Gospel — the 
glorious  order  of  the  glorious  Gospel — and  the  ever- 
lasting order  of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  through  Him 
who  hath  all  power  in  Heaven  and  Earth  given  to 
Him,  the  First  and  the  Last,  the  Beginning  and  the 
Ending,  the  Foundation  of  God  which  over  all  stands 
sure.    Christ  Jesus,  the  Amen." 


CHAPTER  VIII, 


MEETING  HOUSES. 

/^N  account  of  increasing  congregations  Friends  soon 
found  it  necessary  to  acquire  meeting-houses  in 
town  and  country  instead  of  assembling  in  a  house  or 
premises  belonging  to  some  more  affluent  member  of 
the  Society,  which  procedure  met  with  great  opposition 
from  the  government  as  tending  to  establish  what  they 
desired  to  uproot,  and  full  powers  were  given  to  those 
in  authority  for  either  closing  or,  if  necessary,  pulling 
down  these  meeting-places. 

As  a  consequence  many  were  closed,  but  when 
barred  out  the  Friends  met  quietly  around  the  doors 
or  in  the  street  ;  and  when  wrecked,  as  was  not  in- 
frequently the  case,  they  settled  down  calmly  to  their 
worship  amid  its  ruins,  although  as  a  consequence  they 
would  be  swept  off  to  prison.  Such  was  the  holy  ardour 
then  prevailing  that  in  one  case  where  all  the  parents 
were  in  custody  the  children  met  and  kept  up  the 
meeting  themselves.  In  one  instance,  in  London,  the 
meeting-place  was  seized  on  behalf  of  the  king  as  a 
guard  house  for  his  soldiers.  At  another  London 
meeting-house  the  parish  clergyman  insisted  on  reading 
the  English  service  there,  but  Friends  only  waited  till 
he  had  finished  to  hold  their  meeting. 


60 


THE  FRIENDS. 


The  governor  of  the  Tower  of  London  made  him- 
self conspicuous  in  this  treatment  of  such  places  within 
his  jurisdiction  and  had  wrecked  several  before  any 
check  could  be  obtained  against  his  proceeding,  but 
when  his  men  came  to  pull  down  one  in  Spitalfields 
they  were  told  it  was  private  property  of  a  Friend,  who 
was  therefore  ordered  to  attend  at  the  Tower,  and  ex- 
plain his  conduct  in  having  such  an  unlawful  place. 
Now  this  Friend  was  just  then  away  on  some  religious 
service  in  the  far  west  of  England,  and  the  utmost 
favour  attainable  from  the  Governor  was  a  delay  of  a 
fortnight  in  his  appearance. 

Gilbert  Latey  (the  Friend  concerned)  had  this  news 
conveyed  to  him,  but  no  threatened  damage  to  any 
of  his  property  would  allow  him  unduly  to  hasten 
toward  a  conclusion  of  his  religious  service.  However, 
it  so  occurred  in  its  course  as  to  bring  him  back  to 
London  just  before  the  fortnight's  expiration.  Now  he 
was  shrewd  as  well  as  pious,  and  having  moved  in 
upper  circles  through  his  former  business  of  clothier 
and  outfitter  at  the  West  End,  was  acquainted  with  the 
rights  of  individuals  as  to  Property. 

He  at  once  ordered  some  household  furniture  to 
be  sent  in  to  this  threatened  meeting-house,  and  having 
told  one  of  his  pensioners  he  must  go  to  live  there, 
had  a  lease  of  it  to  him  legally  prepared,  and  so  soon 
as  it  was  signed  announced  his  readiness  to  go  with 
his  friends  to  see  the  governor  in  the  Tower  of  London, 
who  as  soon  as  he  saw  Gilbert  Latey  reproached  him 
violently  for  having  broken  the  King's  law  in  own- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


61 


ing  a  meeting-house,  and  although  told  he  had  had  it 
before  there  was  any  such  law,  exclaimed  such  should 
jiot  save  it  from  destruction.  "  But,"  calmly  interposed 
(filbert,  "  I  have  a  tenant  there  in  possession,  and  one 
of  whom  I  have  so  good  an  opinion  that  I  have  granted 
him  a  lease."  "  There,  now  you  have  me,"  said  the 
bafifled  ofBcial,  "and  had  your  friends  but  had  half  your 
wits  they  would  have  saved  their  other  meeting-houses." 
The  fact  being  that  by  furniture,  tenant,  and  lease  the 
wary  Gilbert  had  invested  the  meeting-house  with  the 
sanctity  of  a  dwelling,  which  no  royal  proclamation  or 
Act  of  Parliament  has  ever  yet  violated  to  deprive  a 
subject  of  the  realm  from  regarding  his  home  as  a  castle 
— that  not  even  a  Governor  of  the  Tower  of  London  in 
a  persecuting  age  dared  to  destroy. 

The  plan  thus  initiated  by  Gilbert  Latey,  waa 
adopted  by  the  Society,  so  that  all  their  early  meeting- 
houses were  provided  with  sufficient  household  accom- 
modation to  enable  them,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  to  pass 
as^a  dwelling,  and  often  their  living  rooms  would  be  in 
the  occupation  of  an  educational  Friend,  who  would 
use  the  premises  as  a  school-room  during  the  week. 
The  early  chapels  of  Nonconformists  adop  ted  generally 
similar  arrangements,  and  when  one  of  the  earliest  of 
these,  in  a  London  suburb,  was  pulled  down  some  years 
ago,  there  were  discovered  some  forgotten  chambers  in 
the  roof  that  had  served  this  purpose  in  days  of  peril  to 
such  property. 

A  great  many  Friends'  meeting-houses  remain  in 
country  districts,  especially  in  Yorkshire,  mostly  in- 


(32 


THE  FRIENDS. 


tended  for  but  small  congregations,  with  living-rooma 
under  the  same  roof  at  one  end.  Such  is  the  one  George 
Fox  gave  to  the  Friends  of  Swarthmore,  to  which  he 
bequeathed  his  ebony  bedstead,  table,  and  chairs,  desir- 
ing that  such  might  furnish  a  chamber  for  any  travelling 
minister  on  his  visit.  It  was  no  doubt  intended  as  an 
example  that  was  very  generally  followed  in  these 
country  meeting-houses. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


GEORGE  WHITEHEAD  AND  HIS  SERVICE.. 

Loyalty  to  the  State  is  impossible  without  conformity  io 
the  State  form  of  Religion." 

npHE  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  English 
throne  in  l688,  inaugurated  an  Era  of  Constitutional 
Government  that  ensured  to  all  loyal  and  peaceable 
subjects  a  freedom  for  worship  according  to  their  own 
conscientious  beliefs,  and  not  as  the  Law  might  direct. 

It  was  a  lesson  government  and  statesmen  had 
been  feiow  to  learn,  that  uniform  loyalty  could  be 
secured  without  unifo-mity  of  religious  practice — but 
the  granting  this  liberty  to  Friends  presented  special 
difficulties  on  account  of  their  refusal  of  the  Oaths  of 
Allegiance  having  raised  doubts  as  to  their  loyalty.  It 
need^  much  negotiation  before  some  compromise 
could  be  effected  in  the  form  of  a  Declaration 
sufficiently  solemn  to  satisfy  the  authorities,  and  also 
sufficiently  free  from  any  approach  to  swearing  as  not 
to  ofEend  the  consciences  of  Friends. 

The  working  of  democratic  bodies  seems  favour- 
able to  someone  being  found  in  each  emergency  gifted 
to  steer  the  course,  and  the  Friends  throughout  their 
long  and  chequered  career  have  never  failed  in  having 
at  such  times  an  able  leader  or  counsellor — which 
George  Whitehead  so  truly  became  in  the  conduct  of 
these  affairs  that  some  personal  details  respecting  him 
may  be  given. 


64 


THE  FRIENDS. 


He  was  by  birtli — like  so  many  other  of  the  early 
Friends — a  North  countryman,  and  had  become  whilst 
yet  in  his  teens,  one  of  the  sixty  earnest  preachers. 
He  travelled  at  first  in  the  Eastern  counties,  where  his 
ministry  by  its  success  caused  great  sufferings  to  him- 
self and  his  companions  in  the  persecution  that  envious 
professors  raised  against  them. 

This  was  borne  with  unflinching  courage  :  he  sang 
psalms  whilst  publicly  and  cruelly  scourged,  argued 
ably  with  opposing  divines,  endured  patiently  long 
and  hard  imprisonments,  and  in  all  acquitted  himself 
as  a  man  of  an  upright  and  undaunted  spirit. 

After  some  years  of  these  missionary  experiences 
he  married  and  settled  into  a  grocery  business  in 
Houndsditch,  where  he  continued  so  constant  in  attend- 
ing Friends'  meetings  through  the  hottest  seasons  of 
persecution  as  to  be  in  the  wont  of  putting  his  night- 
cap in  his  pocket  when  he  left  his  home,  expecting  no 
other  results  than  to  find  himself  at  night  a  prisoner  in 
some  city  jail. 

His  many  imprisonments,  numerous  trials  in  law 
courts,  pleadings  before  judges,  magistrates,  and  others, 
were  all  experiences  which,  in  one  of  his  great  natural 
ability,  enabled  him  the  better  to  become  an  intercessor 
with  those  in  authority  on  behalf  of  others,  in  v/hich 
he  was  of  much  assistance  to  his  Friends.  For  this 
purpose  he  had  on  various  occasions  sought  the  presence 
of  Charles  the  Second,  both  at  the  head  of  his  council 
and  when  among  courtiers  in  the  palace  grounds,  and 
had  been  able  to  return  the  royal  pleasantries  without 


THE  FRIENDS. 


65 


offence  to  dignity  or  losing  the  serious  aim  in  view. 
On  one  such  occasion  the  officials,  affronted  at  their  hats, 
were  for  denying  them  admittance  to  the  council 
chamber,  but  the  King  called  out  "Let  them  in  as  they  are, 
their  consciences  are  in  their  hats,"  intending  no  doubt  to 
give  himself  some  further  diverson  at  their  expense,  but 
George  Whitehead,  and  the  two  Bristol  Friends  who 
were  with  kim,  succeeded,  notwithstanding  interrup- 
tions from  members  of  the  council,  in  pleading  the 
cause  of  the  sufferers  for  nearly  an  hour,  until  the  King 
showed  signs  of  being  favourably  impressed, and  George 
"Whitehead  in  his  account  of  the  interview,  adds,  "Blessed 
be  the  Lord  God,  who  gave  me  power  and  boldness,  and 
also  counsel  and  wisdom  to  plead  the  cause  of  the 
innocent  sufferers  for  His  worthy  name  and  blessed 
Truth's  sake." 

The  severity  and  extent  of  their  sufferings  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  during  the  twenty-five  years  of  Charles 
the  Second's  reign,  13,562  Friends  were  imprisoned  in 
various  parts  of  England,  198  were  transported  as  slaves 
beyond  seas,  and  338  died  in  prison  or  of  wounds 
received  in  violent  assaults  on  their  meetings. 

Some  400  of  these  prisoners  being  confined  for  not 
taking  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  could  only  be  released  by 
royal  interference,  and  towards  the  close  of  his  reign 
Charles  was  induced  to  issue  an  order  for  their  release, 
in  which  the  reappearance  of  a  Friend  who  had  helped 
him  to  escape  when  a  fugitive,  proved  of  assistance  in 
gaining  this  royal  favour.  This  Friend,  Richard  Carver, 
had  been  mate  in  the  little  fishing  vessel  in  which 


€6 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Cbarles,  after  his  many  -wonderful  and  hairbreadth 
escapes,  sailed  for  France,  and  he  and  his  master  alone 
knew  the  rank  of  the  tall  and  swarthy  stranger  on  board. 
Having,  for  fear  of  a  vessel  that  seemed  in  chase, 
to  run  ashore  in  shallow  waters,  the  mate  took  the  King 
on  his  shoulders  and  waded  with  the  heavy  burden  to 
land,  receiving  amid  heartfelt  thanks  for  his  escape,  an 
assurance  from  the  King  that  if  ever  he  came  to  the 
throne,  the  sailor  had  but  to  come  there  to  receive  his 
reward.  Few  of  those  who  had  assisted  in  the  fugitive's 
escape  through  his  many  adventures,  failed  to  do  this, 
and,  to  the  King's  credit,  they  never  had  to  complain  of 
neglect.  But  Richard  Carver's  seafaring  life  kept  him 
away  from  England  for  many  long  years,  nor  would  he 
on  his  return  have  thought  of  going  to  "Whitehall  if 
George  Whitehead  had  not  seen  in  the  circumstance  a 
possible  assistance  towards  obtaining  that  royal  pardon, 
in  which,  with  others,  he  was  so  deeply  interested. 
The  King  knew  the  mariner  again,  and  asked  why  he 
had  not  come  sooner,  and  was  told  he  wanted  nothing 
for  himself,  as  any  help  he  could  have  given  to  one  in 
distress  left  a  peace  that  was  its  own  reward,  but  he 
pleaded  for  favour  towards  his  suffering  friends. 

It  doubtless  helped  toward  the  issue  at  length  of 
the  "  Order  of  Release,"  a  bulky  document,  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  Society's  Archives,  written  on  eleven  large 
skins  of  vellum  with  the  great  seal  of  England  attached, 
and  a  portrait  of  the  King  at  its  commencement.  It 
contains  the  names  of  four  hundred  and  ninety-one 
prisoners,  amongst  whom  it  is  interesting  to  observe 


THE  FRIENDS. 


67 


that  of  John  Bunyan,  who  with  some  others,  not 
Friends,  were  by  their  assent  included  in  this  Royal 
Pardon  they  had  at  so  much  labour  obtained. 

It  had  to  be  presented  at  each  Jail  throughout  the 
country.  By  having  an  official  copy  made,  the  labour 
in  travelling  was  divided  amongst  some  others,  but 
George  Whitehead  took  upon  himself  the  largest  share 
in  this  laborious  service. 

The  relief  at  best  was  but  temporary,  for  the  Acta 
•under  which  they  had  been  imprisoned  remained  in 
force,  so  the  Magistrates  and  Justices  continued  to 
convict  :  and  during  the  short  reign  of  James  the 
Second  neither  the  influence  of  William  Penn's  per- 
sonal friendship  with  the  King,  nor  George  White- 
head's sagacious  assiduity  were  able  to  effect  per- 
manent relief  for  tender  consciences,  who  could 
neither  conform  to  the  State  Worship  nor  take  the 
Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy. 

Parliament  opposed  any  exercise  of  a  Royal  Pre- 
rogative, by  which  also  those  Catholic  interests  might 
be  promoted,  to  which  it  was  believed  Charles  was 
secretly  inclined,  and  James  known  to  be  openly 
pledged,  so  that  no  united  action  was  possible  for  the 
relief  of  Nonconformists  until  a  staunch  Protestant 
like  William  the  Third  was  King. 

With  him  there  was  no  difficulty  in  granting  these 
full  legal  protection  to  life  and  property,  and  for  their 
varied  modes  of  worship  if  held  with  unbolted  doors  ; 
but  Friends  had  to  assure  Parliament  of  their  being 
Christians,  which  George  Whitehead  and  two  others. 


68 


THE  FRIENDS. 


who  appeared  at  the  Bar  of  the  House,  found  no 
difficulty  in  effecting.  Yet  even  then,  as  before 
mentioned,  negotiations  were  needed  to  convince  the 
King  that  Friends  were  really  a  united  or  corporate 
body,  or  would  be  loyal  to  him  if  they  were  allowed 
to  make  a  Declaration  instead  of  taking  an  Oath. 

Here,  also,  as  with  Parliament,  George  Whitehead 
was  chief  speaker  in  the  Royal  closet  and  chief  agent 
in  reconciling  Friends  to  the  use  of  that  which  the 
King  had  agreed  to  accept.  But  all  this  reviewed  in  so 
few  words,  conveys  no  idea  of  the  long,  continuous, 
and  varied  labour  at  Court  and  Parliament  the  settle- 
ment involved.  And  if  any  are  desirous  to  be  in- 
formed of  the  work  effected  by  this  Nehemiah  of  the 
Friends'  society  in  obtaining  for  it  the  v/alls  of  legal 
protection,  they  should  read  his  own  narrative  of  it  in 
the  work  called  "  Christian_^rogress,"  where  they 
will  find  him  acknowledging  he  was  "  daily  sensible 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  our  God,  that  was  with  us  in  our 
industrious  endeavours,  made  way  and  did  work  for 
us  therein.    To  Him  be  the  glory  of  all  for  ever." 

George  Whitehead  lived  on  through  the  reigns  of 
William  and  Queen  Anne,  ever  working  for  the  cause 
he  had  embraced  as  early  as  his  17th  year,  and  though 
enfeebled  with  great  age,  was  still  its  spokesman  to 
welcome  George  the  First  to  the  throne,  saying  in  his 
courtly  tones,  "  Thou  art  welcome  to  us,  King  George. 
We  heartily  wish  thee  health  and  happiness.  .  .  We 
desire  the  king  may  have  further  knowledge  of  us  and 
our  innocency,  and  that  to  live  a  peaceable  and  quiet 


THE  FRIENDS. 


69 


life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty  is  according  to  our 
principle  and  practice."  He  again  headed  the  Friends, 
■when  with  deputations  from  other  religious  bodies, 
addresses  of  congratulation  were  presented  on  the 
failure  of  the  Pretender's  attempt,  and  assured  the 
King,  "  His  Friends  were  thankful  at  being  able  now 
to  say  he  was  George,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of 
Great  Britain,  and  that  as  men  carried  that  saying 
stamped  on  the  money  in  their  pockets,  so  it  was  to  be 
wished  it  might  be  imprinted  in  their  hearts." 

This  was  the  fifth  sovereign  in  succession  he  had 
addressed  on  behalf  of  the  Society  in  whose  interests 
he  continued  working  till  the  close  of  his  long  life  of 
87  years.  Content  to  gain  his  living  as  a  tradesman, 
whilst  proving  himself  a  true  gospel  minister — an  able 
disciplinarian,  an  astute  controversialist,  a  skilful  di- 
plomatist and  trusted  councillor.  The  Friends  of  his 
own  meeting  in  their  memorial  of  him  recorded  as 
leading  features  of  his  character,  "  a  gravity,  wisdom, 
and  abilities,  beyond  many  in  the  Church  of  Christ." 

From  what  has  been  narrated,  no  inference  will  be 
drawn  that  this  accomplished  administrator  and  di- 
plomatist, who  could  interview  successfully  monarchs, 
bishops,  lords,  and  great  men,  had  had  any  special 
advantages  from  training  or  education,  for  he  was  but 
a  city  tradesman,  in  the  far  from  aristocratic  quarter  of 
Houndsditch,  and  though  it  may  seem  beneath  notice 
in  any  historical  sketch,  to  allude  to  mere  traditions, 
an  exception  may  be  made  to  one  that  still  lingers  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  dwelling,  as  to  his  conduct 


70 


THE  FRIENDS. 


towards  a  highwayman,  who  had  robbed  a  Friend  of  his 
of  £30.  The  sufferer  had  just  come  into  George  White- 
head's shop-parlonr,  whose  window  opened  on  to  the 
yard  of  the  Dolphin  Inn,  when  he  saw  the  man  who 
had  robbed  him  ride  into  it,  and  exclaimed  "  there  he 
goes."  Such  seemed  improbable  to  George  Whitehead, 
who  knew  him  as  a  fellow  tradesman,  but  the  Friend 
was  so  positive,  that  he  went  out,  and  quietly  taking 
the  horseman  aside,  said,  "  I  will  thank  thee  to  give  me 
the  £30  thou  took  from  my  friend  this  morning,  for  he 
is  come  into  my  shop,  and  says  he  wants  it,  and  if  thou 
art  in  want  of  money  look  to  me  for  help."  Needless  to 
Bay  the  money  was  given  up,  with  an  assurance,  that 
this,  his  first,  should  be  his  last  offence,  to  which  only 
extreme  necessity  had  driven  him.  Such  may  seem 
strange  to  those  of  the  present  generation,  but  at  that 
time  it  was  not  uncommon  for  persons,  and  even  gentle- 
men, to  take  to  the  road  (as  it  was  called),  under  mone- 
tary pressure,  preferring  to  run  the  slighter  risk  of 
capture,  to  the  certain  loss  of  goods,  or  imprisonment 
for  debt.  At  all  events,  according  to  tradition,  George 
Whitehead  by  his  tact  recovered  the  money  for  his 
friend,  helped  his  brother  tradesman  through  his  mone- 
tary difficulties,  and  saved  his  reputation  by  never 
menlioning  the  circumstance  till  after  the  delinquent's 
decease. 

In  closing  this  allusion  to  times  of  severe  and  long- 
continued  trials  through  misgovernment  and  persecu- 
tions it  may  be  observed  that  whilst  many  of  the  disaf- 
fected engaged  in  plots  and  insurrections,  and  adherents 


THE  FRIENDS. 


71 


of  other  Nonconformists  were  either  dispersed  or  had 
gatherings  but  in  secret,  the  Friends  had  kept  themselves 
60  clear  from  any  political  complications,  and  had 
always  been  so  open  in  their  meetings  for  worship  that 
Robert  Barclay  was  able  on  their  behalf  thus  to  aadress 
King  Charles  as  to  their  loyalty  and  openness  :  "For 
that  among'  all  the  plots  contrived  by  others  against  thee 
since  thy  return  into  Britain  there  was  never  any  owned 
of  by  any  of  our  people,  as  we  contend  not  for  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world,  but  are  subject  to  every  ordi- 
nance of  man  for  conscience'  sake  ;  and  also  that  in 
the  hottest  time  of  persecution  against  meetings  we 
have  boldly  stood  to  our  testimony  for  God  instead  of 
creeping  into  holes  or  corners  or  once  hiding  ourselves 
as  other  dissenters  have  done,  but  met  according  to 
custom  in  the  public  places  appointed  for  that  end,  so 
that  none  of  thy  officers  can  say  they  have  surprised  ua 
in  a  corner,  but  were  sure  to  find  us  in  our  open 
assemblies  testifying  for  God  and  His  truth." 


CHAPTER  X. 


SCOTCH  FRIENDS. 

"  In  the  mighty  power  of  God  go  oa  preaching  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature  and^isciglin|f  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  .  .  .  Sound,  sound  the  trumpet  abroad 
ye  valiant  Soldiers  of  Christ's  Kingdom,  of  which  there  is  no  end." 

G.  FOX  (Epistles). 

TTITHERTO  our  attention  in  this  rapid  survey  of  the 
Friends'  history  has  been  confined  to  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  Society  in  England  alone,  but  noAv 
reference  should  be  made  to  its  spread  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  some  parts  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the 
West  Indies,  and  America. 

In  Scotland  Friends  have  never  been  numerona, 
yet  some  amongst  them  have  proved  of  such  service  to 
the  Society  at  large,  as  seemingly  to  justify  on  these 
grounds — rather  than  on  any  numerical  importance — 
the  observation  made  by  George  Fox  that  he  felt  "  the 
Seed  of  God  to  sparkle  around  him  as  his  horse's  feet 
struck  Scottish  soil.** 

These  individuals  were  for  the  most  part  citizens 
of  Aberdeen,  and  some  of  them  in  high  official  positions 
at  the  time  of  the  change  in  their  religious  convictions. 

Alexander  Jaffray  was  its  chief  magistrate,  iu 
Buch  esteem  as  to  have  been  chosen  one  of  the  Com- 
mis:5iouers  to  arrange  with  Charles  the  Second,  in" 


THE  FRIENDS. 


73 


Holland,  on  behalf  of  the  Scotch  Parliament,  the  terms 
on  which  he  should  return  to  his  father's  throne.  By 
uniting  with  Friends,  Alexander  JaflCray  lost  all  his 
magisterial  and  civic  appointments,  and  experienced  a 
full  share  in  the  bitter  persecutions  raised  by  the  Pres- 
byterian ministers,  who  denounced  them  from  their 
pulpits  as  a  people  "demented,  distracted,  and  devil 
possessed,"  fit  only  to  be  rooted  out  as  "  blasphemous 
deniers  of  the  true  Christ,  of  Heaven,  Hell,  Angels,  the 
Resurrection  of  the  body,  and  Day  of  Judgment,"  a  sect, 
who  by  their  practice  of  declining  to  give  hat  honour  to 
the  magistrates,  or  to  take  oaths,  were,  in  the  opinion 
of  these  divines,  "  destructive  of  all  good  government." 

Strange  language  and  conduct  towards  those  who 
could  number  amongst  them  characters  with  a  piety 
so  pure  and  fervent  as  was  shown  by  Alexander  Jaffray, 
who  in  his  enforced  retirement  from  all  public  honours, 
suffered  in  much  patience  this  persecution  for  righteous- 
ness sake,  and  came  to  his  life's  close  in  great  peace, 
lirm  in  his  religious  principles  to  the  last. 

Conspicuous  also  amongst  these  Aberdeen  Friends 
is  the  grand  personality  of  old  David  Barclay,  the 
Laird  of  Ury — one  of  a  thousand  for  height  of  stature, 
bodily  strength,  courage,  and  manly  beauty,  renowned 
as  a  soldier  and  commander,  in  warlike  conflicts,  at 
home  and  abroad,  chiefly  in  the  cause  of  the  Stuart 
kings,  to  whom  he  was  related  through  his  marriage 
with  one  of  the  Gordons. 

Experiences  such  as  these,  of  worldly  success,  had 
brought  so  little  of  peace  to  his  soul  that  he  had  left  all 


74 


THE  FRIENDS. 


and  retired  to  his  estates,  there  to  study  for  himself 
the  New  Testament,  which  made  him  in  reality  a 
Friend,  before  he  had  met  with  any  prejudiced  state- 
ment of  their  principles.  On  becoming  acquainted  with 
these  he  embraced  their  cause  in  all  the  nobleness  and 
firmness  of  his  character,  and  bore  his  full  share  in  the 
obloquy  and  persecution  which  the  change  had  brought 
upon  him.  It  is  said  that  at  the  first  meeting  of  Friends 
attended  by  him,  he  was  much  impressed  by  these  few 
words  spoken  by  one  present,  "  In  stillness  there  is 

If ulness,  in  fulness  there  is  nothingness,  in  nothingness 
there  is  all  things."  This  grand  old  warrior,  whose 
sword  'twas  said  "  few  other  men  could  wield," 
although  unable  now  to  ride  through  the  streets  of 
Aberdeen  without  scorn  and  insult,  would  regard  such 
reproach,  for  Christ's  sake,  as  greater  honour  than  all 
the  banquetings  and  processions  with  which  the  citizens 
had  formerly  been  used  to  greet  his  official  visits  to 
their  city. 

Up  the  streets  of  Aberdeen, 
By  the  kirk  and  college  green, 

Rode  the  Laird  of  Ury  ; 
Close  behind  him,  close  beside, 
Foul  of  mouth  and  evil  eyed, 

Pressed  the  mob  in  fury. 

Yet  with  calm  and  stately  raie;i, 
Up  the  streets  of  Aberdeen, 

Came  he  slowly  riding  ; 
And  to  all  he  saw  and  heard, 
Answering  not  a  bitter  word, 

Tm-ning  not  for  chiding. 

WlIITTIER. 


THE  FRIENDS 


75 


Undaunted  in  suffering  as  he  had  been  valorous 
in  martial  strife,  he  held  meetings  in  his  own  Castle, 
and  attended  those  of  his  friends  in  the  City,  took 
quietly  the  spoilings  of  his  goods  and  cattle  for  fines, 
and  allowed  neither  rank  nor  age  to  spare  him  from 
some  share  in  their  grievous  imprisonments,  until  his 
long  and  eventful  life  closed  in  peace,  at  the  age  of  77 
years.  A  grandson  has  told  how  impressive  was  his 
reverent  attitude  in  prayer,  when  contrary  to  the  Pres- 
byterian mode  of  standing,  it  was  his  practice  to  kneel 
down,  and  removing  his  hat  with  one  hand,  and  his 
black  cap  with  the  other,  present  himself  with  bare 
head  and  bowed  form,  in  earnest  pleadings  at  the 
Throne  of  Grace. 

His  son,  Robert  Barclay,  who  joined  the  society  at 
the  early  age  of  nineteen,  possessed  great  mental 
power,  heightened  by  an  excellent  education,  and  be- 
came a  chief  exponent  of  Friends'  views,  in  his  well- 
known  Apology,  addressed  to  King  Charles,  showing 
how  consonant  their  doctrines  were,  both  to  Scripture 
and  right  reason. 

It  originated  in  some  theological  propositions,  pro-  (Di/C^v^^o^ 
pounded  by  him  when  student  at  a  Scotch  university, /j^^^^^jf^'^  C^:,,;^ 
to  serve  as  the  basis  of  a  debate,  in  which  he  sought  to  — ' 
clear  Friends'  views  from  false  representations  of  them, 
made  by  ^.rofessors  and  priests.   Success  in  the  contro- 
versy encouraged  him  to  expand  his  argument  into  this 
treatise,  which,  though  at  first  written  and  published  in 
Latin,  soon  took  its  English  form,  in  which  it  has  passed 
through  very  many  editions,  and  become  a  standard 


76 


THE  FBIEJfDS. 


■v^ork  amongst  Friends,  as  a  calm,  clear,  and  logical 
exposition  of  their  views  of  Christian  doctrine, 

Robert  Barclay  is  personally  remembered  as  one 
of  a  sweet,  pleasant,  and  cheerful  temper,  combined 
with  much  public  spirit.  Quick  was  he  of  understand- 
ing ;  sound,  solid,  and  comprehensive  in  his  writings  ; 
beloved  also  by  all  who  knew  him,  great  and  small,  for 
whilst  mixing  on  terms  of  easy  familiarity  with  persons 
in  the  highest  walks  of  life,  or  discoursing  on  deep 
subjects  with  others  of  the  most  learned  sort,  he  was 
ever  ready  to  make  plain  the  truths  he  loved,  to  any  in 
humbler  circumstances,  or  to  those  but  little  acquainted 
with  school  learning. 

His  greatly  lamented  death  from  a  fever,  when 
only  in  his  forty-second  jear,_  left  seven  children 
fatherless  ;  and  from  these  are  descended  the  various 
lines  of  Barclays  that  became,  and  yet  remain,  so  in- 
fluential in  social  and  commercial  life. 

Patrick  Livingston  is  a  name  that  should  not  be 
passed  over  without  mention  of  his  having  been  a  min- 
i.ster  umongst  the  Scotch  Friends,  who  so  truly  waited 
before  the  Lord,  for  authority  to  speak,  that  when  the 
spring  of  life  opened,  his  discourses  would  strike 
hie  hearers  with  awe,  at  their  divine  unction  and 
power.  It  was  very  much  his  commission  "to  call 
people  to  repentance,  and  to  bring  them  out  of  their 
lifeless,  hypocritical  profession,  and  dead  formalities, 
wherein  they  were  settled  in  the  ignorance  of  the  true 
and  living  God." 

Whilst  the  Aberdeen  Friends  had  amongst  them 


THE  FRIENDS. 


77 


those  high  in  social  rank  and  scholastic  attainments, 
such  as  the  Barclays,  the  JaJEErays,  George  Keith, 
Alexander  Skene,  and  others,  their  membership  in- 
cluded many  of  the  humbler  sort,  amongst  whom  George 
Gray  is  remembered  as  a  weaver,  who,  though  he  had 
had  no  educational  advantages,  was  a  minister  amongst 
them,  with  so  excellent  a  gift,  and  with  such  a  know- 
ledge of  Gospel  Truths  as  contained  in  Holy  Scripture,! 
that  it  is  said  his  most  critical  opponent  in  any  doctrin-/ 
al  controversy  could  never  find  him  wrong  even  in  ^ 
word.  He  worked  diligently  at  his  trade,  yet  found 
time  for  much  public  service  in  the  Gospel,  and  endur- 
ed with  great  patience  and  cheerfulness,  a  long  im- 
prisonment for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  attending 
meetings,  being  one  whom  no  persecution  nor  spoiling 
of  his  goods  could  deter  from  following  out  his  religious 
convictions. 

George  Keith,  another  member  of  this  Aberdeen 
group,  was  a  strong  contrast  to  George  Gray,  as  he  had 
had  a  distinguished  university  career,  where  he  was  a 
fellow  student  with  Robert  Barclay,  and  united  with 
him  in  a  debate  on  Friends'  principles  whilst  at  the 
university. 

His  scholastic  attainments,  which  obtained  lor 
him  a  degree  as  Master  of  Arts,  enabled  him  to  acquire 
some  reputation  as  a  schoolmaster,  which  profession  he 
followed  with  similar  success  on  emigrating  to  America, 
where  however  he  became  dissatisfied  with  Friends, 
and  changed  from  having  been  an  earnest  and  able 
advocate  of  their  principles,  into  a  bitter  controversialist 


78 


THE  FRIENDS. 


against  them,  and  after  doing  all  he  conld  to  oppose 
the  Society,  both  in  America  and  England,  ended  his 
days  as  the  clergyman  of  an  English  country  parish, 
where,  it  is  said,  he  was  also  unable  to  live  on  good 
terms,  even  with  his  own  parishioners. 

Andrew  Jaffray  (son  of  Alexander),  like  his 
father,  attached  himself  to  the  little  company  of  Friends 
at  Aberdeen,  amongst  whom  he  became  greatly  esteem- 
ed for  his  ministry,  which  they  record  as  having  been 
"  sound,  bold,  and  perspicuous  in  doctrine  and  argu- 
ment, delivered  with  a  clear,  full,  and  penetrating 
utterance."  Himself  a  gentleman  by  birth,  and  a  scholar 
by  education,  he  worshipped  in  loving  fellowship  with 
the  group  of  mechanics  and  little  tradesmen,  animated 
by  the  same  convictions,  and  freely  shared  with  them 
long  and  cruelly  severe  imjirisonments,  which  were  in- 
flicted for  no  other  cause  than  the  holding  these  religious 
meetings  and  absenting  themselves  from  the  public 
worship.  "The  magistrates  (writes  Robert  Barclay), 
stirred  up  by  the  malice  and  envy  of  our  opposers, 
have  used  all  means  possible  (and  yet  in  vain)  to  deter 
us  from  meeting  together,  and  that  openly  and  publicly 
in  our  own  hired  houses.  For  that  purpose  both  death, 
banishments,  imprisonments,  finings,  beatings,  whip- 
pings, and  other  such  devilish  inventions,  have  proved 
ineffectual  to  terrify  us  from  our  holy  assemblies,  and 
we  having  thus  oftentimes  purchased  our  liberty  to 
meet  by  deep  sufllerings,  our  opposers  have  taken 
another  way,  by  turning  in  upon  us  the  worst  and 
wickedest  people,  yea,  the  very  offscourings  of  men 


JOURNAL 

O  R 

Hiftorical  Account 


Life,Travds,  Sufferings,  Christian  Experiences 
and  Labour  of  Love  in  the 

SSork  of  i\t  Ifinigtrj 

OF  THAT 

Ancient,  Eminent,  and  Faithful  Servant  of 
Jesus  Christ, 

George  Fox; 

Who  departed  this  Life  in  ereat  Peace  vnth 

the  Lord,  the  i^i/i  of  the  iiM  Month,  1690. 


Dan.  12.3.  And  they  tlial  turn  many  to  Righteoufnt/s,  //tali 

fhine  as  llie  Stars  Jor  ever  and  ever. 
Verfe4.  Many  JJiall  run  to  ujul  fro ;  and  Knowledge  /kali  be 
Encrea/ed. 

2  Tun.  2  12.  ff  we/uffer,  -we  /hall  also  reign  with  kim ;  (i.e. 
with  Ckri/t.) 


LONDON, 
Ptinted  for  CitWIIUlB  ^IttltOtt,  in  George- Yard,  in 
Lombards irut.    M  D  C  X  C I V . 


THE   TITLE   I'AOE   OF  THE   FIRST   EDITION   OF  THE 
JOURNAL  O;'  GEORGE  FOX   (NOW  EXCEEDINGLY  SCARCE.) 


THE  FRIENDS. 


7'.) 


who  by  all  rnaniier  o*^'  inhuman,  beastly,  and  brutal  be- 
haviour, have  sought  to  provoke  us,  weary  us,  and 
molest  us,  but  in  vain.    It  would  be  almost  incredible 
to  declare,  and  indeed  a  shame,  that  among  men  pre- 
tending to  be  Christians,  it  should  be  mentioned  what 
things  of  this  kind  eyes  have  seen,  and  I  myself,  with 
others,  have  shared  of  in  sufferings.    There  they  have.i 
often  beaten,  cast  water  and  dung,  danced,  leaped,  sang,;! 
and  spoken  all  manner  of  profane  and  ungodly  words,  * 
jeered,  mocked,  and  scoffed,  asking  us  if  the  Spirit  was  ' 
not  yet  come,  while  we  have  been  seriously  and  silently  ■ 
sitting  together  and  waiting  upon  the  Lord." 

Subjected  to  these  indignities,  it  does  not  cause 
surprise  to  find  that  two  such  gentlemanly  and  refined 
natures  as  Andrew  Jaffray  and  Robert  Barclay,  were 
each  at  different  times  led  to  make  of  themselves  a  i 
spectacle  to  the  persecuting  Citizens,  by  walking  stripped  | 
to  the  waist  through  the  streets,  the  one  with  sackcloth 
and  ashes  on  his  head,  and  the  other  holding  of  the  filth 
that  had  thus  been  cast  upon  them,  in  his  hands,  each 
uttering  woes  and  judgments  on  the  City  if  such  course 
of  insult  and  oppression  were  persisted  in. 

These  personal  appearances,  by  way  of  a  sign  like 
the  prophets  of  old,  are  not  forgotten  to  be  brought 
forward  by  those  who  reproach  the  early  Friends  with 
fanatical  practices  ;  but  they  never  ought  to  be  mention- 
ed, as  they  mostly  are,  by  such,  without  due  remem- 
brance of  the  state  of  public  feeling  at  the  time,  and  the 
shocking  indignities  and  brutalities  an  excited  populace 
had  inflicted  on  these  peaceable  citizens.    The  appear- 


80 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


auces  of  high  bred  gentlemen  in  such  a  condition  might 
be  expected  to  have  had  more  effect  of  shaming  them 
into  propriety,  than  of  offering  any  shock  to  those  un- 
acquainted with  our  modern  ideas  of  social  proprieties. 

It  seems  that  amid  their  trials  and  long  confine- 
ments in  loathsome  prisons,  all  were  favoured  with 
remarkable  health,  and  Andrew  Jaffray  would  tell  how 
on  one  occasion,  when  thus  shut  up  in  dark  cellars 
under  the  Court  House,  such  a  pentecostal  time  of 
prayer  and  praise  fell  upon  them,  that  those  of  the 
Town  Council  above  said  one  to  another,  "  0  how 
astonishing  it  is  that  our  Ministers  should  eay,  the 
Quakers  have  no  Psalms  in  their  Meetings,  for  such 
an  heavenly  sound  we  never  heard  in  either  old  or  new 
Church." 

Nowhere  more  than  among  Scotch  Presbyterians 
was  religious  doctrine  reduced  to  rigid  forms  of  belief, 
so  that  it  is  easier  among  these  Highland  controver- 
sialists to  discern  the  chief  points  at  issue  between 
them  and  Friends.  One  of  these  to  which  Friends 
made  objection  was  the  Presbyterian  statement,  "That 
God  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  World  predes- 
tinated some  men  and  angels  to  destruction,  and 
others  to  life  everlasting,  and  that  the  numbers  are  so 
fixed  or  definite  that  none  can  be  added  to  the  one  nor 
diminished  from  the  other,"  contrary  (as  Friends  said) 
to  the  Apostolic  declaration,  "  God  willeth  all  men  to  be 
saved  and  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Truth." 
Then  again  these  Presbyterians  held  "  that  no  mere  man, 
ntiither  of  himself  nor  by  any  grace  given,  is  able  to 


THE  FRIENDS. 


81 


keep  the  commands  of  God,  but  doth  daily  break  them 
in  thought,  word,  and  deed,"  in  opposition  to  which 
the  Friend  believed  true  faith  and  trust  in  the  Saviour 
made  him  partaker  in  His  divine  grace,  whereby 
successful  resistance  could  be  given  to  the  enemy  in 
all  temptations. 

He  arrived  at  this  through  a  deep  baptism  of  spirit, 
and  felt  a  judgment  against  all  sin  to  the  loss  of  self- 
trust  or  any  sense  of  imputable  righteousness,  which  as 
patiently  endured,  had  been  succeeded  by  the  dawning 
in  his  soul  of  true  life  and  power  over  the  evil  ten- 
dencies and  weaknesses  of  human  nature.  A.11  this 
rested  on  Christ  and  His  work  in  the  soui  ;  with  whom 
was  neither  restriction  of  time  or  place,  nation,  rank, 
sex,  or  age — "  Ye  are  all  one "  in  this  Grace — waa 
Friends'  assured  conviction  —  in  opposition  to  the 
bounds  set  by  the  theological  propositions  of  Presby- 
terian Divines.  The  Friends  felt  Judgment  within 
instead  of  looking  for  it  without,  and  gazed  not  so 
much  on  an  outward  and  imputable  righteousness 
as  witnessed  its  operation  in  themselves. 

Seeing  the  remarkable  instances  Scotland  thus 
presents  of  their  fervour  and  firmness,  it  may  seem 
strange  that  as  a  permanent  Society  the  Meetings  have 
never  been  many  nor  their  congregations  numerous. 
This  may  receive  some  explanation  in  the  large  share 
Scotch  Friends  have  taken  in  the  emigration  to  the 
North  of  Ireland,  and  especially  to  the  Settlements  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  Jerseys  in  North  America. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


IRISH  FRIENDS. 


"The  Lord  hath  a  seed  in  Ireland — Keep  yonr  Meetings  in  the 

fear  of  the  Lord,  and  you  will  see  the  Lord  amongst  you  and  His 


rpO  this  country  some  of  the  sixty  early  preachers 


went,  finding  much  acceptance,  especially  in  the 
Northern  Districts  inhabited  by  Presbyterians  and 
Baptists  of  English  and  Scotch  extraction,  of  whom 
many  became  adherents  to  the  Society,  and  as  the 
settling  of  these  into  an  organized  community  resulted 
largely  from  the  gospel  labours  of  William  Edmundson, 
some  particulars  of  his  life  and  ministry  may  be  here 
given. 

He  was  by  birth  a  native  of  Westmorland,  and 
served  for  a  while  in  the  Parliamentary  Forces,  but 
becoming  deeply  affected  with  the  truths  of  religion, 
quitted  the  Army,  that  he  might  engage  in  some 
industrial  occupation  more  congenial  to  such  con- 
victions. He  now  married  and  removed  into  Ireland, 
•where  hie  business  quickly  prospered,  and  in  the 
course  of  it,  having  to  come  to  England,  he  there  met 
with  some  of  the  Early  Friends,  whose  views  of  gospel 
truth  he  found  so  accordant  with  his  own  convictions 


presence  refreshing  your  hearts." 


Edward  Burrocgh. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


83 


that  he  returned  to  Ireland  and  at  once  put  them  into 
practice.  He  declined  all  oaths,  though  it  interfered  with 
his  trade,as  such  were  then  needed  to  pass  goods  through 
the  Customs.  Nor  could  he  give  what  he  considered 
vain  compliments,  though  it  occasioned  misunderstand- 
ings with  relatives  and  acquaintances.  He  also  com- 
menced holding  meetings  at  first  in  his  own  house, 
which  were  mostly  but  small  and  times  of  awful 
silence,  yet .  they  were  comforted  in  a  sense  of  the 
Divine  Presence,  and  found  their  numbers  increase  by 
the  accession  of  earnest  seekers  after  truth.  Amongst 
these  William  Edmundson  was  led  out  in  the  ministry, 
which  beginning  but  in  few  words  uttered  in  fear  and 
trembling,  developed  in  the  course  of  his  long  and 
active  life  into  a  large  and  powerful  gift. 

This  little  meeting  had  not  long  existed  before 
Ireland  was  visited  by  several  of  the  early  preachers 
whose  travels  and  ministry  met  with  such  great  results 
in  the  number  of  adherents  gained  as  to  raise  violent 
oppositions  against  them,  and  Edward  Burrough  and 
Francis  Howgill,  who  had  spent  six  months  of  inces- 
sant gospel  labour  in  the  country,  were  ignominiously 
expelled  as  "  vagrants. "  In  vain  was  it  that  they  asked 
of  the  Authorities — "  who  is  it  of  whom  we  have  begged? 
To  whom  have  we  been  burdensome  .''  or  whose  bread 
have  we  eaten  for  naught  ?  or  what  evil  have  we  done  ?" 
These  earnest  labourers  in  the  Gospel  Harvest  Field 
received  from  the  harshness  of  the  rulers  a  treatment 
given  only  to  vagabonds,  though  they  had  travelled  at 
their  own  expense  and  could  challenge  their  bitterest 


84 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


enemies  to  prove  any  act  or  deed  contrary  to  an  in- 
offensive and  peaceable  behaviour. 

"  "We  came,"  writes  Edward  Burrough  to  these 
Dublin  OflBcials,  "  into  this  land  of  Ireland  by  virtue  of 
command  given  unto  us  by  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  the 
Lord,  contrary  to  the  will  of  man,  not  to  prejudice  your 
Government,  but  with  the  message  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  Jesus.  We  came  to  turn  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  the  power  of  God,  and 
to  minister  the  word  of  reconciliation  and  salvation 
freely  (without  gift  or  reward)  unto  lost  souls,  and  this 
we  are  ready  to  seal  with  our  blood."  They  were 
nevertheless  put  out  of  the  places  of  worship  and 
banished  from  the  towns,  but  this  intrepid  Evangelist 
with  stentorian  lungs  preached  through  the  streets  of 
Limerick  on  horse-back,  as  they  led  him  along.  Being 
thus  put  out  of  the  country,  he  addressed  his  dear 
Friends  in  communications  so  loving  and  judicious, 
as  show  by  their  perusal,  how  one,  who  for  his  bold 
utterances,  was  known  as  a  "  Son  of  thunder,"  could 
be  also  to  the  tender-hearted  a  "  Son  of  consolation." 
"  Every  one  of  you,"  he  writes, "  having  a  measiare  of  light 
f rom  Christ  the  Saviour,  unto  this  you  are  to  take  heed 
only,  and  it  leads  to  Christ  to  receive  Him  and  be 
joined  to  Him,"  with  the  result,  as  he  proceeds  to  show, 
of  triumphing  through  His  power  over  sin  in  this 
present  life  by  a  growing  "  unto  perfection  and  com- 
pleteness in  Jesus  Christ." 

Although  the  Authorities  might  succeed  in  banish- 
ing these,  others  came,  and  a  succession  of  earnest 


THE  FRIENDS. 


85 


Missionaries  followed  one  after  another  in  travelling 
throughout  Ireland,  many  of  them  women  Friends, 
not  to  be  deterred  by  reproach  or  suffering,  but  much 
cheered  through  large  accessions  to  their  views,  and  at 
times  gaining  favour  even  with  the  Authorities,  for 
their  word  was  with  power,  and  its  effects  seen  in  a 
consistent  and  peaceable  life  in  those  who  accepted 
their  teaching. 

As  some  indication  of  the  sufferings  involved,  it 
may  be  noted  that  for  speating  Truth  in  Steeple- 
houses,  Markets,  and  other  places, 

Ninety-four  Friends  endured  whippings,  stocks, 
imprisonment  and  loss  of  goods. 

Nineteen  were  imprisoned  for  meeting  to  worsliip 
God  in  their  own  houses. 

Twelve  we.re  stopped  in  streets  and  on  highways 
while  about  their  lawful  occasions,  and  committed  to 
prison. 

William  Edmundson  was  one  who  gave  up  much 
time  to  travel  with  these  Friends,  and  the  settlement 
of  meetings  after  their  departure  rested  so  much  upon 
him  that  his  name  is  closely  associated  with  the  rise 
and  progress  and  consolidation  of  the  Society  in 
Ireland,  of  which  a  full  account  may  be  found  in  his 
published  Journal.  He  there  mentions  his  first  meet- 
ing with  George  Fox  during  one  of  his  visits  to 
England,  whom  he  found  at  a  largely  attended  con- 
ference of  Friends  in  Leicestershire.  George  Fox, 
hearing  who  he  was,  and  that  he  was  desirous  of  some 
consultation  on  the  state  of  Friends  in  Ireland,  went 


86 


THE  FRIENDS. 


aside  with  him  into  an  orchard,  where  their  converse 
concluded  by  kneeling  down  together  in  earnest  prayer 
under  one  of  its  fruit  trees.  It  was  by  such  men  and 
in  such  dependence  on  Divine  guidance  and  power 
that  the  Society  rooted  itself  in  the  British  Isles.  Each 
section  of  it  in  England  and  Ireland  adopted  its  own 
organization,  but  these  have  ever  worked  in  as  much 
fraternal  harmony  as  when  the  two  respective  leaders 
knelt  in  prayer  under  the  apple  trees  of  that  Leicester 
orchard  more  than  two  centuries  ago. 

William  Edmundson  has  been  described  as  possess- 
ing great  share  of  natural  parts,  though  but  of  a  mean 
education,  plain  in  his  style  of  preaching  but  greatly 
gifted  in  unfolding  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  and  somewhat  austere  in  manner,  but  loving 
withal.  His  service  in  the  Gospel  led  him  into  most  ex- 
tensive travels,  in  the  course  of  which  he  made  three 
voyages  to  America,  where  his  hardy  constitution  bore 
him  through  severe  trials  in  exposure  to  dangers,  hunger 
and  cold  by  sea  and  land.  Very  careful  was  he  to  avoid 
being  burdensome  to  his  Friends  by  making  arrange- 
ments for  his  family  and  outward  affairs  during  these 
long  absences.  In  all  things  watchful  to  give  none 
cause  of  offence,  and  even  to  old  age  laborious  for  their 
spiritual  welfare,  he  came  to  his  close  in  his  85th  year, 
with  a  thankful  sense  of  "  peace  with  God,  unity  with 
his  brethren,  and  good-will  to  all  mankind." 

Living  in  a  country  like  Ireland  where  political 
and  religious  parties  are  ever  at  strife,  and  the  nation 
often  the  scene  of  long  continued  and  sanguinary  wars. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


87 


it  has  beon  the  lot  of  Irish  Friends  to  exemplify  in  a 
very  practical  manner  the  Society's  testimony,  that  all 
war  is  unlawful  to  a  Christian.  It  has  been  upheld  by 
them  faithfully  and  fearlessly  amid  the  shock  of  con- 
tending forces,  and  also  in  the  midst  of  the  horrible 
disorders  occasioned  by  ruffianly  bands  that  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country,  to  roam 
about,  marking  their  track  with  pillage  and  murder  and 
grievous  desolations  of  property  and  homes. 

Dwelling  thus  as  in  a  furnace  of  affliction,  amid  rago 
of  battle  and  storm  of  lust  and  rapine,  the  Friends,  faith- 
ful to  their  principles,  found  a  preservation  for  their 
lives,  like  the  three  brethren  of  old  in  the  king's  burn- 
ing fiery  furnace,  for  He  Who  walked  with  those  therein 
so  ordered  it  amid  these  perils,  that  they  could  look 
back,  when  all  was  over,  in  thankful  admiration  of 
the  marvellous  deliverances  of  life  they  had  known, 
when  certain  destruction  seemed  to  have  threatened 
them.  The  case  of  John  Clibborn  may  be  quoted  as  an 
example.  He  had  kept  open  house  to  all,  and  was  a 
succourer  to  many,  both  Friends  and  others,  and  in 
times  of  great  skirmishes  and  slaughter  he  did  not  flee. 
At  length,  plundered  and  quite  spoiled  in  his  outward 
substance  by  the  Eapparees,  he  was  dragged  out  by  the 
hair  of  his  head,  his  tormentors  threatening  to  kill  him, 
but  though  theyburnt  his  house,even  here  no  life  was  lost ; 
property  and  substance  were  wasted,  but  their  "  lives 
were  given  them  for  a  prey."  In  reference  to  which 
trials,  Gough,  in  his  history,  records  as  "remarkable  that 
through  the  whole  of  this  season  of  danger  and  tumult 


88 


THE  FRIENDS. 


they  kept  up  their  meetings  for  worehip  and  dis- 
cipline in  their  accustomed  manner,  without  much 
interruption  or  disturbance  from  either  party,  although 
they  often  went  to  distant  meetings  through  great 
perils,  by  reason  of  the  Rapparees,  who  in  many  places 
beset  the  roads  in  ambush  to  rob  and  murder  the  pass- 
engers on  their  way  ;  but  they,  resorting  to  their  meet- 
ings in  faith,  and  under  persuasion  of  duty,  were 
mercifully  preserved  and  their  fidelity  rewarded  with 
inward  consolation,  peace  of  mind,  and  an  increase  of 
spiritual  strength  ;  and  they  gained  ground  in  religious 
experience,  in  the  number  of  their  members,  and  in  the 
public  esteem,  through  their  innocent,  stedfast,  and 
sober  deportment  in  the  Fear  of  God." 

Irish  Friends  generally  are  descendants  of  settlers 
in  that  country  from  England  and  Scotland,  during 
the  days  of  the  Commonwealth,  when  colonists  went 
over  to  re-people  the  districts  desolated  by  the  wars ; 
most  of  them  had  previously  been  in  membership  with 
other  non-conforming  communities,  for  neither  had  the 
early  preachers  much  acceptance  with  the  Catholic  in- 
habitants, nor  has  the  Society  acquired  any  increase  in 
after  years  from  that  source.  It  seems  to  need  the 
passing  through  various  stages  of  non-conformity,  be- 
fore a  Catholic  can  appreciate  the  doctrinal  views  of 
Friends. 

An  instance  of  how  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
England  joined  them  is  that  of  Thomas  Braddock,  who 
deterred  for  a  while  from  going  to  their  meetings  by 
thinking  Friends  mistaken  in  "  denying  the  two  great 


THE  FRIENDS. 


89 


seals  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,"  was  surprised  on  his 
going  there,  to  be  seized,  during  a  time  of  silence,  with 
such  power  from  the  Lord,  as  to  fetch  forth  many  deep 
sighs  and  groans  with  tears,  and  a  trembling  so  that  he 
was  forced  to  take  hold  of  the  seat  to  keep  himself  from 
falling  ;  but  as  he  resigned  himself  to  the  Will  of  the 
Lord  the  shaking  and  trouble  abated,  and  he  sat  pretty 
quiet  until  the  meeting  ended.  When  his  wife  asked 
him,  on  his  coming  home,  if  he  had  heard  any  preach- 
ing whilst  there,  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  and  the  best  of 
preachers,  even  the  Holy  Jesus  Himself."  Needless  to 
say  his  prejudices  vanished,  and  in  a  membership  with 
Friends  he  felt  true  Christian  fellowship  and  a  com- 
munion of  his  soul  with  his  Saviour  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

John  Dobhs  was  another  instance,  and  the  change 
in  his  religious  convictions  was  further  attended  with 
the  loss  of  all  prospects  of  advancement  in  worldly 
honour,  and  also  of  an  inheritance  in  his  father's  pro- 
perty that  would  have  enabled  him  to  live  at  his  ease, 
but  he  "  studied  medicine  and  sustained  himself  by  a 
successful  practice,  avoided  popularity,  and  cared  not 
how  little  noise  the  world  made  about  him,  so  that  lie 
enjoyed  peace  with  God  ;  and  as  he  lived,  so  he  died, 
in  strict  unity  with  Friends." 

As  an  interesting  pooof  of  how  much  of  zeal  and 
disinterested  labour  can  be  shown  by  ministers  in  a 
society  that  ofEers  no  pecuniary  recompense  for  gospel 
service,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  during  the  first  hun- 
dred years  of  Irish  Friends'  history,  they  received  visits 
from  some  550  men  and  women  Friends,  ministers 


90 


THE  FRIENDS. 


from  England.  James  Dickenson  was  twelve  times 
travelling  amongst  them,  Benjamin  Holme  six  times, 
and  John  Fothergil  four. 

These  Irish  communities  had,  like  the  English 
much  cause  to  be  thankful  for  the  consistent  work  and 
effective  ministry  of  many  of  the  women  amongst 
themselves,  such  for  example  as  Elizabeth  Jacob,  who 
was  widely  known  in  this  service,  which  was  attended 
with  great  reverence  and  tenderness  to  the  reaching  the 
hearts  of  her  hearers.  She  was  of  a  sweet  and  cheerful 
spirit,  a  good  example  to  all  in  life  and  conversation, 
and  her  case  is  illustrative  of  many  more. 

Preserved  amidst  peril  of  life,  and  faithful  to  their 
principles  throughout  grievous  and  lawless  times,  to  the 
endurance  of  great  spoilings  of  outward  substance, 
Irish  Friends  were  also  found  anxious  so  soon  as  pros- 
perity succeeded  to  scarcity,  lest  the  pursuit  of  wealth 
should  endanger  in  a  rising  generation  the  maintenance 
of  that  simplicity  formerly  professed.  Their  zeal 
against  a  spirit  of  eovetousness  and  indifferency  in 
Truth's  service,  not  only  received  commendation  from 
some  who  visited  them,  but  was  shewn  in  the  establish- 
ment of  disciplinary  regulations,  in  rules  and  queries 
fully  as  complete  and  much  the  same  as  those  of 
English  Friends,  which  have  been  enforced  by  them 
with  like  care  for  impartiality  and  perseverance. 

The  Friends  in  Ireland  are  at  this  time  distributed 
in  37  congregations,  with  a  total  of  nearly  2,700  mem- 
bers. These  send  representatives  once  every  four  weeks 
to  twelve  monthly  meetings,  which  again  are  represent- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


91 


ed  at  three  quarterly  meetings,  and  the  whole  Irish 
society,  like  the  English,  meets  once  a  year  in  Dublin, 
in  a  General  Representative  Gathering,  which  they  used 
to  call  a  National  Assembly.  It  is  independent  of  the 
one  in  London  held  shortly  after,  to  which  however  it 
sends  a  Deputation  of  fraternal  greeting  ;  and  harmon- 
ious action  has  ever  been  observed  between  what  are 
now  both  called  "  Yearly  Meetings." 


CHAPTER  Xn. 


FRIENDS  IN  HOLLAND,  GERMANY,  AND  THE 
WEST  INDIES. 

"  Having  heard  of  great  things  done  by  the  mighty  power  of 
God  in  many  Nations  beyond  the  seas,  whither  He  hath  called 
forth  many  of  our  dear  brethren  and  sisters  to  preach  the  ever- 
lasting Gospel  .  .  our  hearts  are  filled  with  tender  love  to 
these  precious  ones  of  God,  who  have  so  freely  given  up  .  . 
their  friends,  their  near  rulations,  their  Country  and  Worldly 
Estates,  yea,  and  their  own  lives  also." — A  General  Epistle  of 


"HAT  is  on  record  of  the  early  Christians  going 


"  everywhere  preaching  the  word,"  may  be  taken 
as  descriptive  of  the  zeal  with  which  the  Friends'  Mis- 
sionary Band  dispersed  themselves  in  all  directions, 
not  only  over  the  British  Isles  but  to  far-off  countries, 
whither  their  journeyings  must  in  those  days  of 
difficult  travel  have  been  attended  with  great  privations 
and  many  perils  by  land  ana  sea. 

So  early  as  1660 — within  ten  years  of  the  rise  of 
the  Society — there  is  mention  made  in  a  General 
Epistle  of  that  year  "  of  the  great  work  and  service  of 
the  Lord  beyond  the  seas  in  several  parts  and  regions 
as  Germany,  America,  Virginia  and  many  other  places, 
as  Florence,  Mantua,  Palatine,  Tuscany,  Italy,  Rome, 
Turkey,  Jerusalem,  France,  Geneva,  Norway,  Bar- 
badoes,  Bermuda,  Antigua,  Jamaica,  Surinam,  and 
Newfoundland,"  through  all  which  this  early  docu- 
ment further  observes,  "Friends  have  passed  in  the 


1658. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


93 


service  of  the  Lord  "  probably  in  no  great  number,  but 
singly,  or  a  few  at  a  time,  and  of  their  gospel  labours 
in  most  of  these  places,  little  or  no  record  now  re- 
mains, but  as  a  list  of  the  cost  for  Outfit  and  Travelling 
expenses  has  been  preserved,  its  amount  of  £490  (a 
large  sum  according  to  the  value  of  money  in  those 
days)  shows  the  extensiveness  of  a  service,  in  which  it 
is  to  be  remembered  there  was  no  personal  remunera- 
tion connected  with  its  performance. 

The  men  and  women  Friends  thus  journeying  afar 
•would  find  fellow  countrymen  in  most  of  these 
countries  living  there  in  exile,  or  as  prisoners  of  war, 
or  taken  captive  by  the  piratical  cruisers  that  in  those 
days  infested  the  seas.  They  would  also  have  access 
through  interpreters  to  the  natives  and  their  rulers  ; 
some  of  them  had  conference  with  a  Doge  in  Venice, 
and  Cardinals  in  Rome.  One  of  them  under  arrest  for 
speaking  his  message  in  public  died  in  the  dungeons 
of  the  Roman  Inquisition.  The  Great  Turk  was  more 
noble,  having  graciously  received  to  public  audience  a 
woman  Friend,  at  whose  boldness  in  coming  so  far 
alone  he  much  marvelled,  and  of  whose  message  he 
owned  to  have  felt  it  was  the  Truth,  and  acceptable  as 
given  her  to  speak  from  "  the  Lord  God."  Two  other 
women  Friends  found  the  Catholics  of  Malta  more 
bigoted  than  the  Mahometans  of  Turkey,  and  suffered 
four  years  of  grievous  imprisonment  at  the  hands  of  the 
Inquisition  in  Malta,  from  which  they  could  get  no 
release,  until  the  sympathies  of  a  Cardinal,  then  resi- 
dent in  England  (and  well  acquainted  with  some  of 


94 


THE  FRIENDS. 


the  London  Friends),  were  gained  to  intercede  with  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  on  their  behalf. 

Much  of  this  service  in  foreign  lands  was  attended 
with  a  distribution  of  Pamphlets  and  Books,  some 
written  in  Latin  as  a  means  then  generally  in  use  for 
communication  with  the  learned,  others  in  the  current 
languages  of  the  time  ;  for  the  Friends'  zeal  made  large 
use  of  the  facilities  printing  gave  for  the  dissemina- 
tion of  their  principles,  and  for  answering  controver- 
sialists that  opposed  them.  These  general  observations 
as  to  the  Society's  Foreign  Service  may  serve  to 
introduce  more  special  mention  of  their  proceedings  in 
Holland,  Germany,  the  West  Indies,  and  especially  in 
North  America. 

HOLLAND   AND  GERMANY. 

In  the  times  of  the  Tudor  and  Stuart  dynasties 
much  sympathy  existed  between  the  Reformers  in 
England  and  their  brethren  like-minded  on  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe,  especially  in  Holland  and  parts  of 
Germany,  which  countries  had  become  asylums  for 
those  oppressed  by  the  Catholics,  as  also  for  Puritans 
and  other  Dissenters,  when  the  Anglican  Clergy  dealt 
hardly  with  them.  Amongst  a  few  of  these  still 
remaining  at  the  rise  of  the  Friends'  Society,  their 
earnest-minded  ministers  in  travelling  thither  found 
acceptance,  as  also  amongst  the  Continental  Baptists, 
which  success  is  especially  observable  in  the  case  of 
William  Ames,  who,  knowing  the  German  language. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


95 


could  appeal  in  a  direct  manner  to  the  hearts  of  his 
hearers.  He  had  himself  come  out  from  being  a 
Baptist  preacher  through  meeting  with  Edward 
Burrough  whilst  serving  as  an  officer  in  the  Parlia- 
ment Forces  in  Ireland,  and  forsaking  a  military  life 
had  entered  with  all  the  intrepidity  of  his  nature  on  a 
gospel  warfare,  to  which  he  brought  natural  abilities 
and  spiritual  attainments  of  no  common  order.  His 
nealous  labours  in  Holland  brought  on  him  persecution, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  suffered  confinement  for 
some  time  in  the  Bedlam  of  Rotterdam  under  a 
charge  of  being  beside  himself,  and  although  he 
succeeded  in  convincing  its  magistrates  of  his  own 
sanity  and  conscientiousness,  it  must  be  confessed 
some  rash  spirits  who  passed  as  his  disciples  could 
not  be  equally  justified  in  their  extravagances  com- 
mitted under  the  saying,  "  my  Spirit  testifieth."  In 
Corisheim  (a  town  not  far  from  the  City  of  Worms,  in 
Germany),  "William  Ames,  by  his  ministry,  gathered  a 
notable  community  that  unanimously  migrated  not 
long  after  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  have  formed  a 
valuable  element  in  its  Friends'  population,  and  were 
happily  gone  thither  just  before  the  French  armies  of 
Louis  XIV.  desolated  their  native  land  with  fire  and 
Bword. 

"  Hail  to  posterity  ! 
tiail  future  men  of  Germanopolis, 

Let  the  young  generations  yet  to  be. 

Look  kindly  upon  this  ; 
Think  how  your  fathers  left  their  native  land, 
Dear  German-land  !  0  sacred  hearths  and  homes  I 


THE  FRIENDS. 


And  where  the  wihl  beast  roams, 
In  patience  planned  ; 
^!  ew  forest  homes  beyond  the  mighty  sea, 
Tliere  undisturbed  and  free, 
To  live  as  brothers  of  one  family." 

(From  the  Latin  of  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius,  by  J.  G. 
Whittier.) 

Pastorius  acquired  a  great  reputation  for  learning, 
and  before  his  emigration,  belonged  to  an  intelligent 
and  highly  cultivated  community  of  Pietists,  but  soon 
after  his  arrival  in  America  joined  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  became  one  of  its  rrv^st  able  and  devoted 
members.  "We  shall  meet  with  him  again  further  on 
in  connection  with  Slavery,  against  the  iniquity  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  make  a  protest. 

Before  this  exodus  various  other  ministers  from 
England  had  visited  them,  amongst  whom  were  George 
Fox,  William  Penn,  and  Robert  Barclay,  who  in  the 
course  of  their  journeys  held  debate  with  some  of  the 
learned  professors  on  theological  subjects,  and  found 
in  Elizabeth,  grand-daughter  of  James  the  First  and 
daughter  of  the  ex-Queen  of  Bohemia,  and  some  of  her 
near  relatives,  those  who  favom-ed  their  company  and 
cordially  accepted  their  spiritual  counsel.  It  was  sel- 
ilomany  opportunity  could  be  found  for  a  more  public 
promulgation  of  their  views,  as  the  right  of  meeting  for 
worship  in  most  of  these  Foreign  States  was  so  strictly 
reserved  to  the  Form  that  had  received  its  legislative 
sanction,  but  by  enquiring  in  the  places  thus  visited 
for  any  who  had  withdrawn  from  the  public  forms 


THE  FRIENDS. 


97 


and  were  seeking  a  better  way  for  themselves,  many 
deeply  interesting  gatherings,  of  the  two  or  three  or 
more  in  private  dwellings,  cheered  the  hearts  of  the 
visitors,  and  those  that  had  thus  at  so  much  labour  been 
sought  out  by  them. 

In  Holland  a  Friends*  meeting  was  settled  at 
Amsterdam,  that  continued  into  the  present  century, 
and  Sewel,  one  of  its  members,  has  the  reputation  of 
having  written  the  first,  and  to  this  day,  most  complete 
History  of  the  Society  during  its  earlier  periods. 

WEST  INDIES. 
The  possession  of  the  Islands  of  the  "West  Indies, 
has  been  a  source  of  much  warlike  contest  between  the 
European  Powers,  and  our  country  had  then  acquired 
less  territory  there  than  now,  at  the  time  of  Friends'  first 
visit  to  them.  In  consequence,  their  labours  were 
chiefly  directed  to  Barbadoes,  which  ic  a  small  but 
fertile  island,  that  has  always  been  in  possession  of  the 
English,  who  settled  there  in  1625,  and  made  it  not  only 
open  to  free  colonisation,  but  a  strong  military  station, 
and  a  place  whither  its  criminals  were  sent  to  share  in 
plantation  labour  with  negroes  imported  as  slaves  from 
Africa. 

Much  interest  speedily  attended  their  ministry 
amidst  this  miscellaneous  population,  and  many  of  the 
chief  persons  in  the  island  were  to  be  seen  amongst 
those  gathered  at  the  numerous  and  large  meetings,  held 
with  the  general  inhabitants,  and  also  amongst  the 
black  population. 


9S 


THE  FRIEN'DS. 


This  interest,  however,  developed  into  opposition, 
when  it  was  found  that  adherents  to  Friends'  views 
declined  any  share  in  military  service,  or  rendering 
contributions  in  aid  of  warlike  preparations,  and  fears 
also  arose  lest  their  efforts  to  religiously  enlighten  the 
slaves,  might  cause  them  to  rise  for  freedom  against 
the  white  population. 

As  usual  in  these  cases,  the  chief  instigators  to  the 
troubles  that  ensued,  were  to  be  found  amongst  the 
clericals  of  the  island,  whose  own  social  habits  appear 
to  have  been  of  a  character  in  little  accordance  with 
their  sacred  calling,  but  having  the  ear  of  the  Governor, 
it  was  easy  for  them  to  raise  an  alarm  amongst  the 
authorities,  lest  peace  and  safety  should  be  endangered 
by  these  new  doctrines,  which  they  denounced  as  sub- 
versive of  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  and 
also  of  the  principles  of  all  good  government. 

Grievous  as  these  charges  undoubtedly  were,  and 
great  as  was  the  commotion  they  at  first  occasioned, 
such  turned  ultimately  to  an  advantage,  by  giving 
Friends  an  opportunity  of  clearing  away  many  misap- 
prehensions, through  being  called  upon  by  the  Governor 
(a  man  like  Sergius  Paulus,  of  a  prudent  mind)  to  state 
distinctly  their  views,  before  he  would  take  any  official 
action  for  their  suppression. 

In  consequence,  George  Fox  (who  was  then  in  the 
island),  with  others,  drew  up  a  document,  which  is  so 
able  and  comprehensive  a  statement  of  Friends'  belief 
in  the  cardinal  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  full  acceptance 
of  Holy  Scripture,  as  to  have  been  referred  to  ever  since 


t 

THE  FRIENDS. 


99 


whenever  their  soundness  in  the  Christian  Faith  may 
have  been  called  in  question. 

It  is  too  long  to  give  here,  and  is  the  less  needed,  as 
our  subject  is  rather  with  their  points  of  diversity,  than 
agreement  with  their  fellow  believers.  It  will  be  found 
in  George  Fox's  Journal  (a  new  edition  of  which  in  two 
volumes  at  5s.  is  just  issued),  and  also  in  the  Society's 
Book  of  Christian  Discipline. 

By  this  and  other  means  open  persecution  was  held 
in  check,  and  those  who  joined  Friends  settled  into 
regular  congregations,  not  only  in  Barbadoes  but  in  the 
much  larger  island  of  Jamaica  ;  so  that  to  this  day 
may  be  seen  Meeting  Houses  or  Burial  Grounds  in 
various  parts  of  the  West  Indies,  some  in  ruins,  others 
converted  into  dwellings,  whilst  the  descendants  of 
Buch  as  once  worshipped  in  them  must  be  sought 
for  amongst  the  populations  of  America.  Thither  so 
general  an  emigration  set  in,  that  it  stripped  these  parts 
of  Friends,  who  left  on  account  of  their  conscientious 
objection  to  support  war,  and  their  conviction  of  the 
iniquity  of  obtaining  a  livelihood  by  means  of  slave 
labour. 


Note. — In  connection  with  Dutch  Friends  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  how  much  they  benefited  by  Steven  Crisp's,  of 
Colchester,  frequent  visits,  for  he  was  one  of  the  clearest  and 
most  effective  exponents  of  Friends'  Doctrinals,  and  had  learnt 
to  speak  German. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


FRIEXDS  LS"  AMERICA. 

"  The  Seed  in  America  shall  be  as  tlie  sand  of  the  sea." — An 
utterance  by  Humphrey  Xort<jn.  one  of  the  first  Friends  who 
visited  that  great  Continent. 

rpHE  Society  of  Friends  has  largely  developed  in  the 
United  States,  where  it  became  divided,  about  sixty 
years  ago,  into  two  nearly  equal  communities,  in  con- 
sequence of  diverse  theological  views,  through  the  one 
having  adopted  an  Unitarian  basis,  whilst  the  other 
retains  the  original  views  of  the  Society,  and  is  the  body 
with  which  English  Friends  have  continued  to  be  in 
correspondence. 

This  orthodox  section  consists  at  the  present  time 
of  twelve  Yearly  Meetings,  with  a  total  of  84,000 
members,  increasing  latterly  at  the  rate  of  about  2,000 
a  year.  Each  of  these  Yearly  Meetings,  though  inde- 
pendent in  itself,  maintains  with  the  other  a  friendly 
correspondence,  and  most  of  them  are  marked  by  an 
active  and  influential  zeal  in  various  kinds  of  mission 
and  philanthropic  work. 

Looking  backwards,  Friends'  history  in  America 
presents  itself  under  a  two-fold  aspect,  each  of  which 
requires  notice,  being  in  one  caise  the  spread  of 
Friends'  principles  amongst  colonists  of  various  relig- 
ious persuasions  already  settled  there,  and  in  the  other 


THE  FRIENDS. 


101 


a  founding  of  an  entirely  new  State  by  William  Penn, 
under  the  name  of  Pennsylvania. 

These  English  settlements  along  the  Eastern  coast 
of  America  were  founded  at  various  periods  by 
associations  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  trade  and 
commerce,  under  charters  obtained  from  successive 
sovereigns,  ranging  in  date  from  James  the  First  to 
George  the  Second.  Such  royal  grants  gave  powers 
of  self-government  subject  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
throughout  the  great  political  and  religious  disturb- 
ances of  those  reigns,  these  colonies  became  a  general 
refuge  for  the  defeated  or  persecuted  of  all  kinds — 
English,  Scotch,  and  Irish,  with  Huguenots  from 
France,  Waldenses,  Swedes  and  Danes,  Moravians  and 
others. 

With  all  this  mixed  character  in  the  emigrants, 
each  province  acquired  a  character  of  its  own,  those  in 
the  South  favouring  Episcopalian  and  Royalist  princi- 
ples, whilst  the  Northern  ones  were  Nonconformist  as  to 
religion,  and  Republican  or  Democratic  in  their  politics. 

Between  these  lay  the  territories  granted  to  Lord 
Baltimore,  who,  though  a  Roman  Catholic  himself, 
declared  "that  he  would  not  directly  or  indirectly 
molest  any  settler,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ, 
for  or  in  respect  of  his  religion,"  and  next  to  him  were 
territories  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  whose 
charter  for  what  they  called  the  New  Netherlands,  con- 
tained those  principles  of  toleration  for  all  forms  ol 
religion,  that  had  contributed  to  Holland's  greatness. 
It  caused  their  city  of  i'^  ew  Amsterdam  to  acquire  that 


.102 


THE  FRIENDS. 


cosmopolitan  character  which,  under  its  present  name 
of  New  York,  has  been  so  enormously  developed. 

Between  these  Dutch  possessions  and  the  Northerii 
or  New  England  States,  was  another  haven  of  refuge  li- 
the province  of  Rhode  Island,  whither  Roger  Williams, 
a  Baptist  minister,  led  off  those  who  could  not  accom- 
modate their  religious  convictions  to  the  rigid  Calvinism 
of  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents  of  New  England 
and  Massachussets.  All  these  Settlements  were  more 
or  less  in  a  growing  and  prosperous  condition  at  the 
time  when  Friends  from  England  travelled  to  make 
known  their  principles  among  them,  and  encountered 
Hardships  and  sufferings  which  will  have  to  be  des- 
cribed with  such  brevity  as  the  nature  of  the  case 
will  permit. 

Interest  naturally  settles  around  parts  where  thy 
struggle  has  been  the  keenest,  and  nowhere  else 
did  the  Missionary  Friends  from  England  meet  with, 
greater  opposition,  or  become  subjected  to  grosser 
ill  treatment  than  among  the  Presbyterians  of  Massa- 
chussets, even  to  the  loss  of  the  lives  of  some  of  them 
at  the  hands  of  the  public  executioner. 

The  first  arrivals  were  two  women  Friends,  who 
came  from  Barbadoes  to  Boston,  where  its  authorities 
promptly  subjected  them  to  examination,  and  on  dis- 
covering the  nature  of  their  principles,  condemned  the 
books  thev  had  brought  with  them  to  be  burnt  by  the 
common  iiaugman,  and  subjected  their  persons  to  brutal 
tests,  in  search  of  some  evidence  as  to  their  being  devil- 
wosse-ssed  or  witches  in  disguise,  of  which  failing  to 


THE  FRIENDS. 


103 


discover  any  signs,  they  were  sent  ignominiously  away. 
Some  more  Friends  arriving  soon  after,  had  to  sufiEer 
close  imprisonment  without  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  until 
the  ship  that  brought  them  could  be  ready  for  its  return, 
when  they  also  were  sent  away.  And  to  guard  against 
further  intrusions,  it  was  proclaimed  at  beat  of  drum 
through  Boston  streets,  that  the  heaviest  penalties  would 
be  inflicted  on  all  who  should  harbour  in  their  homes 
any  who  promulgated  these — to  them — horrible  doc- 
trines. "God  forbid,"  said  one  of  the  preachers,  "that  we 
should  tolerate  errors.  To  say  that  men  ought  to  have 
liberty  of  conscience  is  impious  ignorance  ;  religion 
admits  of  no  eccentric  notions."  By  these  methods  had 
the  Presbyterian  settlers  in  New  England  succeeded  in 
driving  out  Antinomians,  Baptists,  and  all  others  who 
had  opposed  or  failed  in  conformity  to  their  own  Church- 
order  and  doctrine,  but  they  were  now  confronted,  in 
these  Missionary  Friends,  with  a  dauntless  spirit  of  en- 
durance under  all  they  could  inflict  in  grievous  scourg- 
ings  and  cruel  imprisonments.  When  banished  under 
pain  of  death  they  returned,  and  were  willing  to  suffer, 
and  did,  to  the  laying  down  of  their  lives,  rather  than 
desert  the  holy  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

Although  the  magistrates  were  able  by  these  pro- 
ceedings to  deter  captains  of  ships  from  bringing  any 
Friends  among  their  passengers  to  Boston,  another 
missionary  band  were  about  to  make  a  fresh  entrance 
on  American  soil  in  a  vessel  of  their  own.  There  was 
a  ship  master  in  the  North  of  England  who,  whilst 
building  a  small  craft  for  himself,  became  a  Friend, 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


anrl  felt  a  divine  intimation  that  the  first  venture,  in 
which  his  vessel  was  to  be  engaged,  would  be  one  con- 
nected with  the  interests  of  the  Society  he  had  joined, 
and  although  he  knew  nothing  of  any  particular  line 
of  service  that  would  be  called  for  at  his  hand,  he  brought 
his  little  ship  up  to  the  port  of  London,  to  communi- 
cate with  the  Friends  there  on  the  subject.  He  now 
found  that  at  that  time,  five  of  those  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled from  Boston,  were  feeling  they  must  at  all 
hazards  return  thither,  and  that  six  others  from  different 
parts  of  the  country  were  come  to  town,  seeking  some 
way  of  joining  in  this  perilous  service.  The  London 
friends  thought  the  arrival  of  this  brother  captain  with 
liis  vessel,  was  a  divinely  ordered  means  at  their  dis- 
[iosal,  and  although  the  little  "Woodhouse"  seemed 
I'ar  too  small  for  crossing  a  wide  and  stormy  ocean 
with  safety,  they  engaged  it  for  this  purpose.  But  the 
captain's  heart  greatly  failed  him  as  the  time  of  depar- 
ture drew  near,  and  he  would  have  forfeited  the  charter 
rather  than  set  sail,  if  George  Fox  had  not  encouraged 
liim  to  persevere,  and  so  he  says  (in  an  account  which 
this  ship  owner  wrote  of  the  voyage)  :  "  I  received  the 
Lord's  servants  on  board,  who  came  with  them  with 
a  mighty  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm,"  and  truly,  as 
will  be  seen,  there  was  the  germ  of  the  American 
Friends'  Society  enshrined  in  that  little  craft.  The 
voyage  took  two  months,  and  was  conducted  in  an  extra- 
ordinary manner.  Throughout  all  the  time  it  lasted  they 
made  none  of  the  usual  observations  for  latitude  or  longi- 
tiide,  but  instead  waited  daily  before  the  Lord,  "  Whose 


THE  FRIENDS.  105 

power  they  felt  leading  the  little  vessel,  even  as 
it  were  leading  a  horse  by  the  head,"  and  they  fared 
better  than  some  much  larger  ships,  from  which  they 
had  parted  company,  and  found  themselves  guided  to 
friendly  shores,  for  the  land  they  first  sighted  proved 
to  be  New  York,  then  in  the  possession  of  the  Dutch, 
who  unlike  the  Calvinists  of  Boston,  welcomed  all 
strangers.  After  leaving  some  of  the  Friends  there,  the 
little  "Woodhouse"  went  onto  Rhode  Island,  where,  as 
one  of  the  passengers  wrote,  "  we  were  received  with 
much  joy  of  heart."  His  letter  shows  the  spirit  that 
animated  these  evangelists,  for  he  adds  :  "  The  Lord  God 
of  Hosts  is  with  us — the  shout  of  a  King  is  amongst  us 
— the  people  fear  our  God,  for  His  goodness  is  large 
and  great,  and  reaches  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  .  .  . 
take  no  thought  for  me  .  .  .  man  I  do  not  fear, 
for  my  trust  is  in  the  Lord  .  .  .  the  seed  in 
America  shall  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,"  a  confidence 
justified  by  events  in  the  numerical  status 'attained  by 
the  Society  there,  and  the  influence  American  Friends 
have  exerted  on  their  Brethren  in  older  Lands. 

The  eleven  who  had  come  in  the  "  Woodhou  se  "  were 
joined  by  four  who  had  arrived  from  Barbadoes,  and 
this  missionary  band  dispersed  themselves  through- 
out the  American  Colonies,  quickly  gaining  converts 
to  their  religious  principles,  and  settling  meetings  in 
various  places,  especially  in  Rhode  Island,  where  the 
governor  and  most  of  the  authorities  became  Friends. 
Even  New  England,  with  all  its  care  over  the  sea-board, 
could  not  prevent  an  entrance  of  these  earnest  spirits 


106 


THE  FRIENDS. 


across  the  land  frontiers,  and  the  magistrates  of  Boston 
learnt  that,  notwithstanding  their  threateuings,  Friends' 
principles  were  largely  spreading  in  some  of  their 
towns,  causing  those  who  held  them  to  withdraw  from 
the  public  worship,  and  sit  down  in  small  companies 
or  in  one  another's  dwellings  for  silent  waiting  before 
the  Lord.  The  ministers  inflamed  the  authorities 
against  them,  and  violent  measures  l>y  fines,  whippings, 
and  imprisonments  ensued,  for  the  purpose  of  break- 
ing up  and  dispersing  these  little  communities.  Laws 
also  were  passed  for  confiscation  of  property  and 
banishment  upon  all  who  would  not  conform  to  the 
Presbyterian  system  ;  such  methods  had  been  success- 
ful with  Antinomians  and  Baptists,  and  it  looked  as  if  the 
Friends  might  also  become  shattered  and  scattered 
by  these  severities.  In  this  emergency  the  little 
missionary  band  freely  exposed  themselves  to  endure,  for 
the  cause's  sake,  all  that  the  authorities  could  inflict, 
and  four  of  them  lost  their  lives  in  the  result.  When  ex- 
pelled, as  they  often  were,  they  returned.  When 
whipped  till  people  cried  out  for  shame,  they  bore  it  in 
patience  declaring  "their  cords  were  no  more  to  them 
than  spiders'  webs."  When  pilloried  and  branded,  all 
was  borne  in  patience,  when  ears  were  cut  off  the 
sufferers  prayed  forgiveness  for  their  persecutors,  and 
at  last,  when  led  to  the  gallows,  these  dauntless  ones 
saug  hymns  in  the  fervour  and  spirit  of  the  martyrs  of 
old. 

It  is  a  long,  very  long  and  sad  story,  and  more  than 
the  four  would  have  lost  their  lives  if  news  of  these 


THE  FRIENDS. 


107 


barbarous  executions  of  pious  individuals  had  not 
reached  Friends  in  England,  who  gained  access  to  the 
King,  and  so  roused  his  indignation  that  he  commission- 
ed one  of  them,  who  had  been  himself  expelled,  to  return 
as  his  messenger  with  royal  commands  to  stop  "this 
vein  of  innocent  blood." 

Swiftly  sped  the  vessel  that  carried  this  royally 
commissioned  Friend,  who  arrived  in  Boston  just  as 
another  one  was  about  to' be  led  to  the  gallows-tree. 

On  first  confronting  the  Boston  governor  he  was 
assailed  with  violent  abuse  for  daring  to  return,  and  for 
entering  into  his  presence  with  his  hat  on  ;  but  so  soon 
as  the  official  learnt  his  commission,  he  bared  his  own 
head  to  listen  to  the  King's  commands,  and  (after  re- 
tiring awhile  to  consult  with  a  colleague)  announced  that 
they  should  be  obeyed ;  and  thus  no  more  Friends  than 
these  four  were  ever  hung  on  Boston  Common ;  yet  were 
the  scourgings  continued  on  their  bared  backs  through 
the  towns,  and  heavy  fines  and  imprisonments  inflicted 
until  the  authorities  seemed  all  aweary  of  such  scenes. 

Probably  they  became  assured  that  those  they 
treated  with  barbarities  worse  than  if  they  had  been 
felons  were  not  after  all  the  "  dangerous  heretics  "  their 
ministers  accounted  them  ;  nor  were  their  principles  to 
be  feared  as  subversive  of  government,  but  on  the  con- 
trary could  be  regarded  as  productive  of  good,  loyal, 
and  peaceable  folk,  whose  industry  would  be  helpful 
to  the  country's  advancement. 

An  American  historian  thus  reviews  these  events  : 
— "  We  contemplate  with  horror  the  fires  of  Smithfield, 


106 


THE  FRIENDS. 


across  the  land  frontiers,  and  the  magistrates  of  Boston 
learnt  that,  notwithstanding  their  threatenings,  Friends' 
principles  were  largely  spreading  in  some  of  their 
towns,  causing  those  who  held  them  to  withdraw  from 
the  public  worship,  and  sit  down  in  small  companies 
or  in  one  another's  dwellings  for  silent  waiting  before 
the  Lord.  The  ministers  inflamed  the  authorities 
against  them,  and  violent  measures  ny  fines,  whippings, 
and  imprisonments  ensued,  for  the  purpose  of  break- 
ing up  and  dispersing  these  little  communities.  Laws 
also  were  passed  for  confiscation  of  property  and 
banishment  upon  all  who  would  not  conform  to  the 
Presbyterian  system  ;  such  methods  had  been  success- 
ful with  Antinomians  and  Baptists,  and  it  looked  as  if  the 
Friends  might  also  become  shattered  and  scattered 
by  these  severities.  In  this  emergency  the  little 
missionary  band  freely  exposed  themselves  to  endure,  for 
the  cause's  sake,  all  that  the  authorities  could  inflict, 
and  four  of  them  lost  their  lives  in  the  result.  When  ex- 
pelled, as  they  often  were,  they  returned.  When 
whipped  till  people  cried  out  for  shame,  they  bore  it  in 
patience  declaring  "their  cords  were  no  more  to  them 
than  spiders'  webs."  When  pilloried  and  branded,  all 
was  borne  in  patience,  when  ears  were  cut  off  the 
sufferers  prayed  forgiveness  for  their  persecutors,  and 
at  last,  when  led  to  the  gallows,  these  dauntless  ones 
sang  hymns  in  the  fervour  and  spirit  of  the  martyrs  of 
old. 

It  is  a  long,  very  long  and  sad  story,  and  more  than 
the  four  would  have  lost  their  lives  if  news  of  these 


THE  FRIENDS. 


107 


barbarous  executions  of  pious  individuals  had  not 
reached  Friends  in  Enghmd,  who  gained  access  to  the 
King,  and  so  roused  his  indignation  that  he  commission- 
ed one  of  them,  who  had  been  himself  expelled,  to  return 
as  his  messenger  with  royal  commands  to  stop  "  this 
vein  of  innocent  blood." 

Swiftly  sped  the  vessel  that  carried  this  royally 
commissioned  Friend,  who  arrived  in  Boston  just  as 
another  one  was  about  to'  be  led  to  the  gallows-tree. 

On  first  confronting  the  Boston  governor  he  was 
assailed  with  violent  abuse  for  daring  to  return,  and  for 
entering  into  his  presence  with  his  hat  on  ;  but  so  soon 
as  the  official  learnt  his  commission,  he  bared  his  own 
head  to  listen  to  the  King's  commands,  and  (after  re- 
tiring awhile  to  consult  with  a  colleague)  announced  that 
they  should  be  obeyed ;  and  thus  no  more  Friends  than 
these  four  were  ever  hung  on  Boston  Common  ;  yet  were 
the  scourgings  continued  on  their  bared  backs  through 
the  towns,  and  heavy  fines  and  imprisonments  inflicted 
until  the  authorities  seemed  all  aweary  of  such  scenes. 

Probably  they  became  assured  that  those  they 
treated  with  barbarities  worse  than  if  they  had  been 
felons  were  not  after  all  the  "  dangerous  heretics  "  their 
ministers  accounted  them  ;  nor  were  their  principles  to 
be  feared  as  subversive  of  government,  but  on  the  con- 
trary could  be  regarded  as  productive  of  good,  loyal, 
and  peaceable  folk,  whose  industry  would  be  helpful 
to  the  country's  advancement. 

An  American  historian  thus  reviews  these  events  : 
— "  We  contemplate  with  horror  the  fires  of  Smithfield, 


108 


THE  FRIENDS. 


the  dungeons  and  auto-da-fees  of  the  Inquisition,  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  penalties  of  the 
Star  Chamber,  but  the  unpitying  and  remorseless  sen- 
tence of  Endicott  the  Boston  Governor,  who  on  one 
occasion  told  his  prisoner,  '  Renounce  your  religion  or 
die,'  and  the  sanguinary  denunciations  of  the  General 
Court,  fill  us  with  equal  dismay.  That  they  who  had 
preached  such  purity  of  life  and  conduct  to  mankind, 
that  they  who  had  been  exposed  to  the  terrors  of  perse- 
cution, and  fled  from  it,  that  they,  forgetful  of  their 
own  precepts  and  the  lessons  of  their  own  sad  ex- 
perience, should  pursue  to  banishment  and  death  almost 
every  species  of  nonconformity,  displays  to  us  recesses 
in  the  human  mind  which  point  to  a  dark  and  unex- 
plored labyrinth  in  its  devious  and  impenetrable 
depths."  The  Boston  rulers  considered  Friends  as 
suicides  because  they  rushed  on  the  sword  themselves  ; 
"but,"  continues  Bancroft,  "  if  so,  those  who  held  the 
sword  were  accessories." 

The  subjects  of  this  ignominious  and  cruel  treat- 
ment were  persons  of  high  character,  and  some  of  them 
in  a  good  position  of  life. 

John  Rous,  who,  after  being  several  times  whipped 
in  public,  suffered  the  loss  of  one  of  his  ears,  was  a 
young  gentleman,  the  son  of  a  London  merchant  ;  he 
was  afterwards  married  to  one  of  Margaret  Fell's 
daughters.  Mary  Fisher,  who  underwent  grievous 
Bcourgings  and  indignities,  was  a  person  in  good  cir- 
cumstances, as  well  as  of  an  undaunted  spirit.  She  was 
the  one  whom  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  had  received  with 


THE  FRIENDS. 


109 


such  respect.  Mary  Clark,  who  was  the  first  to  suffer 
these  public  scourgings,  was  the  wife  of  a  London  trades- 
man. Humphrey  Norton  had  come  from  the  North  of 
England.  As  a  reward  for  his  gospel  labours  he  had 
his  hand  branded  with  an  H,  as  being  a  heretic  in  the 
estimation  of  these  rigid  Presbyterians.  But  the  list 
of  sufferers  and  nature  of  sufferings,  which  extended 
over  more  than  thirty  years,  is  far  too  long  for  citation 
in  this  brief  survey.  Of  those  who  lost  their  lives, 
William  Robinson  was  well  educated  and  a  London 
merchant.  Marmaduke  Stevenson,  his  companion, 
was  a  Yorkshire  husbandman,  who  had  left  a  wife  and 
family  in  obedience  to  a  Divine  call.  Mary  Dyer, 
who  went  with  them  to  the  gallows,  was  a  matron  of 
unusual  abilities  and  force  of  character.  The  suffererg 
liad  spent  their  last  hours  exhorting  the  crowds 
that  gathered  round  their  dungeons,  and  walked  with 
radiant  countenances  to  the  scene  of  execution,  but 
were  prevented  by  beat  of  drum  from  further  address- 
ing those  who  accompanied  them  thither.  On  arrival 
there,  Mary  Dyer  was  at  the  last  moment  reprieved, 
through,  it  was  said,  a  successful  intercession  of  her 
son,  but  the  other  two  died  with  words  of  joy  and 
forgiveness  on  their  lips.  As  a  last  indignity  the 
bodies  were  denied  to  their  friends  for  burial,  being 
cast  into  a  deep  and  watery  pit  by  the  gallows'  side. 
Mary  Dyer  returned  to  her  home  in  the  neighbouring 
Province,  but  finding  that  these  persecuting  laws  still 
remained  in  force,  resolved  to  protest  against  them 
with  her  life,  and  this  time  the  hangman's  function 


110 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


had  its  cruel  course.  William  Leddra,  another  sufferer 
of  the  death  penalty,  bore  an  unexceptional  character. 
Wenlock  Ghristison,  who,  to  encourage  his  Friends  in 
suffering,  had  freely  exposed  himself  to  these  savage 
laws,  received  likewise  a  sentence  of  death,  and  only 
by  that  timely  arrival  of  the  royal  veto  were  the 
Boston  magistrates  saved  from  sacrificing  this  further 
victim  to  their  religious  zeal.  Of  Mary  Dyer,  it  must 
further  be  remarked  that  she  possessed  a  dauntless 
spirit  which  had  been  manifested  on  former  occasions 
during  her  life,  as  she  had  been  a  prominent  member 
in  a  community  expelled  from  New  England  for  their 
Antinomian  views  before  she  became  a  Friend. 
She  is  described  as  "  a  person  of  no  mean  extract  and 
parentage,  of  an  estate  pretty  plentiful,  of  a  comely 
Btature  and  countenance,  of  a  piercing  knowledge  in 
many  things,  and  pleasant  discourse.  So  fit  for  great 
affairs  that  she  wanted  nothing  that  was  manly,  except 
only  the  name  and  sex." 

"  I  passed,"  are  the  words  of  Joseph  Nicholson, 
another  member  of  this  intrepid  band,  "  through  most 
parts  of  the  English  inhabitants  and  sounded  the 
mighty  day  of  the  Lord  which  is  coming  upon  them 
through  most  towns,  and  was  at  many  of  their  public 
worship  houses.  I  have  received  eighty  stripes  at 
Boston  and  some  other  of  the  towns.  Their  cruelty 
was  very  great  towards  me  and  others,  but  over  all  we 
were  carried  with  courage  and  boldness,  thanks  be  to 
God.  We  gave  our  backs  to  the  smiters,  and  walked  after 
the  cart  with  boldness,  and  were  glad  in  our  hearts  in  their 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Ill 


greatest  rage."  These  were  the  sort  John  Wesley  wanted 
when  he  declared  "  Give  me  one  hundred  preachers 
who  fear  nothing  but  Sin,  and  desire  nothing  but  God, 
and  I  care  not  a  straw  whether  they  be  clergymen  or 
laymen,  such  alone  will  shake  the  gates  of  Hell  and  set 
up  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  upon  earth  !  "  Certainly  a 
measure  of  the  same  power  that  animated  and  sustained 
prophets  and  martyrs  of  old  must  be  attributed  to  these 
earnest  men  and  women  who  despised  shame,  endured 
great  afflictions  and  suffered  even  unto  death  lest 
the  cause  they  loved  should  be  uprooted  and  lost. 
Puritan  historians  have  sought  to  excuse  their  people's 
conduct,  but  all  impartial  minds  will  find  it  difficult 
to  avoid  condemning,  as  harsh  and  unchristian,  the 
ti'eatment  of  the  early  Friends  by  New  England 
Presbyterians. 

If  in  a  few  instances  there  were  one  or  two  of  the 
women  Friends  who  acted  strangely  and  went  undressed 
through  the  streets  or  into  assemblies,  let  It  be  taken 
as  their  form  of  protest  against  barbarities  inflicted  on 
themselves  and  their  sisters  by  the  authorities,  whose 
common  form  of  treatment,  even  for  women  Friends, 
was  to  have  them  stripped  and  flogged  at  the  cart  tail 
by  the  hangman  through  the  streets  of  their  towns. 
And  whenever  the  zealous  preachers  seem  harsh  in  the 
judgments  they  pronounced  on  their  persecutors,  let 
such  be  taken  as  given  in  the  sense  of  solemn  warnings 
from  those  whose  last  words  were  of  forgiveness  and 
prayers  for  their  persecutors.  If  an  apostle's  spirit 
waxed  warm  when  smitten,  contrary  to  the  law,  what 


112 


THE  FRIENDS. 


surprise  can  be  felt  at  strong  words  from  the  accused 
when  savagely  interrupted  in  their  defence  as  these 
often  were  by  a  handkerchief  or  key  thrust,  at  the 
judge's  order,  into  their  mouths. 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  it  was  through  these 
devoted  men  and  women  Friends  freely  exposing 
themselves  to  such  indignities  and  deadly  perils,  by 
returning  again  and  again  after  expulsion  and  banish- 
ment that  the  Society  became  rooted  in  New  Eng- 
land soil.  Their  holy  ardour  diffused  itself  through- 
out the  little  communities  which  else  would  have 
become  scattered  under  fierce  persecution,  if  these  had 
not  rallied  them  to  endure  all  that  opposers  could  inflict, 
and  would  not  be  cast  out.  When  the  two  who  having 
been  banished  knew  it  was  death  to  have  returned 
•were  arrested  at  Boston,  they  said  they  had  come  to 
look  "  their  bloody  laws  in  the  face,"  and  to  shame  the 
magistrates  into  their  repeal.  Seventeen  friends — seven 
of  whom  were  women — accompanied  them  to  the  last 
scene,  and  one  of  these  brought  with  her  linen 
wrappings  should  the  laws  be  enforced  upon  them — 
but  even  such  attentions  were  denied  to  the  dead,  as 
before  shewn,  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Boston  officials, 
whose  hearts  were  steeled  by  the  harangues  of  their 
popular  ministers  to  inflict  for  imputed  heresy  a  death 
for  which  otherwise  they  could  see  no  cause. 

Although  the  King's  interference  checked  further 
use  of  the  hangman's  halter,  it  did  not  prevent  his 
services  being  in  frequent  requisition  for  publicly 
flogging  any  who  returned  after  banishment,  nor  had 


THE  FRIENDS. 


115 


it  the  effect  of  preventing  grievous  sufferings  inflicted 
by  fines  and  seizures  of  goods,  until  a  similar  treatment 
was  attempted  towards  some  of  the  royalist  settlers, 
when  such  a  remonstrance  came  from  the  English 
Court  as  to  put  an  end  for  ever  to  these  Presbyterian 
methods  of  enforcing  their  Church-order  and  Discipline 
in  the  State  under  their  control. 

English  Friends  watched  this  struggle  of  their 
American  brethren  with  feelings  deepened  by  their 
own  experiences,  and  not  a  few  were  led  from  time  to 
time  to  go  and  share  these  trials  with  them.  In  1671 
George  Fox  with  thirteen  other  Friends  crossed  the 
Atlantic  for  this  purpose.  He  landed  first  at  Barbadoes,. 
and  after  good  service  there  proceeded  to  America,  where 
he  attended  a  Yearly  Meeting  held  at  Rhode  Island,  to 
which  great  numbers  came,  and  felt  much  profited  by 
his  wise  and  fatherly  counsel.  He  found  so  much 
openness  for  Friends  in  this  liberal-minded  province,, 
as  to  stay  some  time  longer  there  "confirming  the 
churches."  Many  of  the  wealthier  sort  joined  the 
Society,  even  to  the  Governor  and  members  of  hi& 
council,  for  it  proved  to  be  a  time  of  large  convincement, 
and  many  Friends'  meetings  became  settled  throughout 
the  various  American  colonies  as  a  result  of  the  zealous 
activity  with  which  he  and  so  many  others  travelled  to 
and  fro  from  one  Colony  to  another  for  this  purpose. 
Such  labour  of  love  cannot  be  sufficiently  appreciated 
unless  it  is  remembered  how  far  distant  these  Colonies 
were  from  each  other,  being  then  separated  either  by 
vast  extent  of  almost  trackless  forests,  or  only  reached 

& 


114 


THE  FRIENDS. 


through  coasting  voyages  of  an  adventurous  character. 

It  was  whilst  riding  through  these  forests  one  of 
their  party  was  thrown  so  violently  from  his  horse  as  to 
be  given  over  for  dead  by  his  companions,  who  thought 
the  neck  was  broken,  but  George  Fox  coming  up,  set 
himself  to  work  and  succeeded,  by  ways  he  had  possibly 
learnt  as  a  herdsman,  in  wrenching  the  neck-bones  into 
position  so  that  the  Friend  was  soon  himself  again,  an 
incident  that  may  serve  to  illustrate  William  Penn's  re- 
mark, "  I  never  saw  him  not  a  match  for  every  service 
or  occasion." 

"William  Edmundson  was  one  who  had  a  full  share 
in  these  travelling  experiences.  His  high  mental  endow- 
ments and  spiritual  gifts,  which  we  have  noted  in  our 
account  of  the  Irish  Friends,  marked  him  out  for  great 
influence  with  the  higher  class  professors  and  those  in 
authority,  whose  minds  became  by  his  statements  of 
doctrine  often  cleared  from  previous  prejudice,  as  for 
example,  when,  after  having  shewn  Friends'  belief  in 
the  Atonement  and  the  Scriptures,  he  was  asked  "Where 
then  is  it  that  you  ditf  er  from  the  ministers "  :  he  replied, 
"  They  are  satisfied  with  talk  of  Christ  and  the  Scriptures, 
but  we  could  not  be  satisfied  without  the  sure  inward 
divine  knowledge  of  God  and  Christ,  and  the  enjoyment 
of  those  comforts  the  Scriptures  declared,  and  which 
true  believers  enjoyed  in  the  primitive  times." 

As  our  further  tracing  of  Friends'  affairs  on  the 
continent  of  America  will  lead  us  away  from  these  older 
settlements  to  one  founded  by  themselves,  it  may  be 
remarked,  without  indulging  any  vindictive  spirit, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


115 


that  in  these  New  England  settlements,  where  they  were 
80  barbarously  treated  for  many  years,  most  who  had 
had  a  chief  hand  in  the  sufferings  inflicted  came  to 
their  end,  either  through  some  loathsome  disease,  distress 
ot:  mind,  or  grievous  or  sudden  disaster  that  called  to  re- 
irembrance  the  judgments  of  which  the  Friends  who 
uied  at  their  hands  had  so  earnestly  warned  them.  The 
Colony  itself  also  suffered  more  than  any  other  when  the 
French  and  Indian  wars  soon  after  occurred,  so  much 
60  that  it  has  been  estimated  New  England  lost  before 
the  victory  had  been  obtained  one  in  every  twenty  of 
her  able-bodied  population.  "  Never,"  remarks  Cave 
in  his  Church  History,  "  was  any  wicked  attempt  made 
against  Christians  but  a  divine  vengeance  was  seen  at 
the  heels  of  it." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


FRIENDS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

"  Within  the  Land  of  Penn,  the  Sectary  yielded  to  the 
Citizen,  and  peaceful  dwelt  the  many  creeded  men." — Whittier. 

"  Without  any  Carnal  weapon  we  entered  the  Land  and  in- 
habited there  as  safe  as  if  there  had  been  thousands  of  garrisons, 
for  the  Most  High  preserved  us  from  harm,  both  of  man  and 
beast." — (Letter  of  an  early  settler.) 

rpHIS  Friends'  Colony  owes  its  origin  to  the  settle- 
ment  of  a  debt  due  by  the  Crown  of  England  to 
William  Penn,  the  son  of  the  famous  Admiral  of  that 
name,  who  for  his  valour  and  success  in  Naval  affairs 
had  been  rewarded  by  lucrative  offices  and  estates, 
and  yet  at  his  death  left  his  son  and  heir  a  claimant 
on  the  Crown  for  £15,000,  which  in  some  way  Charles 
the  Second  had  become  indebted  to  him. 

It  has  ever  been  customary  with  Kings  to  discharge 
their  sense  of  obligation  to  those  who  might  have  done 
them  service,  by  grants  of  dignities  or  lands,  and  iu 
this  instance  Charles  found  the  son  of  his  famous 
Admiral  willing,  and  indeed  solicitous,  to  acquire  ;i 
Province  in  the  Western  World  as  a  full  discharge  of  his 
pecuniary  claim.  If  extent  of  country  were  any  indi- 
cation of  value,  the  King  would  in  this  instance  appear 
to  have  greatly  exceeded  his  indebtedness,  by  giving  a 
territory  as  large  as  all  England  in  settlement  of  a  claim 
for  fifteen  thousand  pounds. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


117 


It  was,  however,  at  this  time  in  an  unreclaimed 
condition,  covered  with  forests  ;  the  hunting  ground 
of  roving  Indians,  except  a  few  settlements  of  Dutch 
and  Swedes,  on  the  river  Delaware  that  formed  its 
eastern  boundary. 

It  had  formed  part  of  an  extensive  territory,  inclu- 
sive of  the  East  and  West  Jerseys  and  New  York,  that 
had  hitherto  been  known  as  the  New  Netherlands,  but 
through  the  fortune  of  war,  becoming  transferred  from 
the  Dutch  to  the  British  crown,  it  enabled  the  king  to 
make  this  grant  to  William  Penn,  which  he  desired 
should  by  its  name  retain  a  remembrance,  both  of  its 
forests  and  its  Founder,  from  which  royal  christening 
resulted  that  of  Pennsylvania. 

It  could  only  be  reached  across  more  than  2,000  miles 
of  stormy  ocean,  traversed  at  that  time  by  vessels  of  but 
small  capacity,  which  were  often  many  months  on  the 
voyage.  But  William  Penn's  philanthropic  mind  em- 
braced the  opportunity  it  afforded,  of  exhibiting  to  the 
world  a  colony  modelled  on  perfect  freedom,  both  as  to 
religion  and  government.  "  I  eyed  the  Lord,"  he  wrote, 
"  in  obtaining  it,  and  desire  to  keep  it,  that  I  may  not  be 
unworthy  of  His  love,  but  do  that  which  may  answer 
His  kind  providence  and  serve  His  truth  and  people, 
that  an  example  may  be  set  to  the  nations.  There  may 
be  room  there,  though  not  here,  for  such  an  Holy 
Exjjerimenty 

In  the  progress  of  negotiations  connected  with  this 
provincial  investiture,  William  Penn  had  besides  other 
helpers,  a  very  good  friend  in  James,  Duke  of  York, 


118 


THE  FRIENDS. 


between  whom  and  the  admiral,  his  father,  a  close 
intimacy  had  existed,  that  was  continued  to  the  son, 
even  after  James  had  become  king.  But  the  course 
of  events  should  not  be  further  pursued,  without 
some  retrospect  over  William  Penn's  previous  history, 
for  he  was  a  middle-aged  man  at  this  time,  and  had 
experienced  many  vicissitudes  in  the  course  of  his 
life. 

His  father,  Sir  William  Penn,  was  an  admiral  of 
high  renown,  his  mother  the  daughter  of  an  Amsterdam 
merchant,  and  their  son  William  was  born  at  their 
residence  on  Tower  Hill,  London,  in  1644.  He  gave 
early  promise  by  manly  qualities  and  mental  endow- 
ments, of  more  than  sustaining  the  honours  his  father 
had  achieved,  and  no  efforts  were  spared  to  perfect  him 
by  education  at  school  and  university,  together 
with  training  in  camp  and  court  at  home  and  abroad. 
Through  all  was  there  a  religious  zeal  which  thwarted 
parental  expectations  of  worldly  honour.  When 
sent  to  college  he  was  expelled,  on  account  of  resist- 
ance to  some  new  Ceremonials  being  required  from 
the  undergraduates  ;  and  when  he  was  in  London 
his  father  found  him  more  often  amongst  the 
religious  people  than  frequenting  camp  or  court,  and 
idthough  by  foreign  travel  and  residence  at  ioreigu 
courts,  he  seemed  for  a  few  years  to  have  become  some- 
what of  a  fine  gentleman,  it  soon  disappeared,  to  his 
lather's  disappointment,  on  meeting  again  with  religious 
associates.  Having  estates  in  Ireland  he  sent  William 
thither  to  manage  them,  and  gave  him  such  introduc- 


THE  FKIENDS. 


119 


tions  to  its  rulers  as  would,  he  thought,  ensure  for  his 
son  an  atmosphere  of  military  and  viceregal  life,  well 
calculated  to  promote  his  worldly  advancement ;  but 
here  the  youth  met  again,  in  an  unexpected  manner, 
the  same  friend  who  had  first  roused  his  religious 
enthusiasm  at  Oxford.  This  was  Thomas  Loe,  a  gentle- 
man of  good  birth  and  university  education,  one  of  the 
few  of  that  class  who  had  joined  the  ranks  of  Friends, 
and  become  a  powerful  minister  amongst  them,  not  only 
in  public  discourse,  but  through  the  personal  influence 
of  a  superior  and  cultivated  mind. 

William  Penn  had  not  seen  him  since  his  university 
days,  but  hearing  ho  was  travelling  in  Ireland  and  had 
appointed  a  meeting  in  Cork,  near  which  city  he 
was  managing  his  father's  estates,  he  went  to  it.  It 
gathered  in  silence,  but  soon  Thomas  Loe  arose  with 
the  words  "  There  is  a  faith  that  overcometh  the  world, 
and  there  is  a  faith  that  is  overcome  of  the  world  ;"  on 
which  he  enlarged  in  so  impressive  a  manner,  that 
William  Penn  resolved  to  forsake  all  worldly  ambition 
and  unite  himself  with  the  Friends,  to  seek  for  that  wis- 
dom and  peace  no  earthly  honours  could  bestow.  Heroic 
in  religious  controversy,  as  the  admiral  was  in  naval  en- 
gagements, he  was  soon  unaer  arrest  for  propagating 
his  new  views,  and  when  released  and  recalled  home, 
bore  himself  most  bravely  and  in  great  patience  under  a 
father's  anger,  carried  to  the  extreme  of  being  forbidden 
the  house  and  cut  off  from  his  inheritance. 

This  left  him  dependent  on  the  kindness  of  his 
new  associates,  and  such  little  support  as  a  fond  mother 


120 


THE  FRIENDS. 


could  secretly  give,  without  awakeuing  a  jealous  father's 
suspicions. 

Such  a  man  could  not  fail  to  become  conspicuous 
in  whatever  circumstances  he  might  be  found.  His 
first  essay  at  authorship,  was  a  treatise  against  what  he 
thought  were  carnal  views  (too  prevalent)  of  the  Trinity, 
and  called  it  "The  sandy  foundation  shaken,"  for  which, 
on  the  accusation  of  its  being  an  heretical  work,  the  Bishop 
of  London  had  him  confined  for  nine  months  in  the 
Tower  ;  but  here  he  composed  one  of  the  most  eflfective 
of  his  many  publications,  No  Gross,  no  Croivn,'^  and 
when  remonstrated  with  by  warm-hearted  friends  for 
following  courses  that  only  brought  him  trouble,  replied 
he  "  scorned  that  religion  which  was  not  worth  suffer- 
ing for." 

Released  from  this  imprisonment,  scarcely  a  year 
had  passed  before  he  was  again  under  arrest,  owing  to 
his  resolute  conduct  in  attending  Friends'  meetings, 
which  in  those  days  of  persecution  were  regarded  as 
unlawful  assemblies, and  subjected  whoever  frequented 
them  to  fines  and  imprisonment.  On  this  occasion, 
William  Penn  had  formed  part  of  the  little  company 
gathered  in  Gracechurch  Street  in  front  of  their  Meeting 
House  premises,  out  of  whi(^h  they  were  kept  by  the  city 
authorities,  being  determined  no  powers  on  earth  should 
prevent  their  meeting  for  divine  worship.  They  met  in 
Bllence,  but  William  Penn  rising  to  address  them  was  ar- 
rested witli  William  Mead,  who  had  also  spoken  there. 
Both  stood  their  trial  at  the  London  Sessions.  William 
Peim  boldly  demanded  on  what  law  the  indictment 


THE  FRIENDS. 


121 


had  been  framed  against  them.  On  the  Common  Law," 
answered  the  Recorder.  "  Where  is  that  Law  ?  "  He 
was  denied  its  production,  on  which  he  replied  "  The 
Law  which  is  not  at  hand  to  be  shewn,  is  far  from  being 
common  Law."  Amidst  exclamations  and  menaces  from 
the  bench,  this  intrepid  young  man  of  five  and  twenty 
proceeded  with  skill  and  learning,  to  plead  for  the 
liberty  of  the  subject  under  the  fundamental  Laws  of 
England,  and  when  ordered  out  of  Court  by  the  irritated 
Judge,  reminded  the  Jury  that  his  case  rested  with 
them,  they  being  his  judges.  Dissatisfied  with  their 
first  verdict,  "Guilty  of  speaking  in  Gracious  Street," 
tlie  Recorder  heaped  upon  them  a  torrent  of  abuse. 
"  We  will  have  a  verdict,  by  the  help  of  God,  or  you  shall 
starve  for  it."  "  You  are  Englishmen,"  said  William 
Ponn,  who  had  been  brought  again  to  the  Bar,  "  mind 
your  privilege, give  not  away  your  birthright."  "  It  will 
never  be  well  with  us,"  said  the  Recorder,  "  till  some- 
thing like  the  Spanish  Inquisition  be  in  England." 
At  last  the  Jury,  who  had  been  kept  without  food  or 
firing  for  two  days  and  two  nights,  gave  their  verdict 
"  Not  Guilty."  The  Recorder  fined  them  forty  marks 
(shillings)  apiece  for  their  independence,  and  sent 
William  Penn  back  to  prison,  for  contempt  of  Court  in 
not  removing  his  hat.  He  has  earned  from  historians 
great  praise  for  this  noble  stand  made  by  him  for 
British  freedom  of  justice. 

His  father,  who  was  now  very  ill  and  wishful  for 
a  reconciliation,  paid  the  fines  inflicted  on  the  Jury,  and 
obtained  his  son's  release,  whom,  on  his  dying  bed,  he 


122 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


exhorted  to  persevere  in  his  conscientious  convic- 
tions, and  left  him  his  heir  to  a  fortune  of  about  £1,500 
a  year. 

William  Penn  in  joining  with  Friends  came  into  close 
association  with  some  of  his  own  social  rank,  especially 
a  family  of  Peuingtons  at  Chalfont  in  Bucks — where 
he  met  with  the  accomplished  and  pious  lady  who  be- 
came his  wife.  She  was  the  step-daughter  of  Isaac 
Peuington,  a  son  of  a  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  who 
had  married  her  mother,  the  widow  of  Sir  William 
Springett,  and  as  she  was  heiress  to  her  father's  estates, 
the  newly  wedded  pair  were  able  to  settle  in  circum- 
stances of  much  financial  prosperity.  In  this  domestic 
comfort  William  Penn  passed  many  years  of  his  life  as  a 
country  gentleman,  with  a  young  family  happily  grow- 
ing up  around  him,  so  that  other  than  mere  worldly 
motives  must  have  influenced  him  to  undertake  the 
settlement  of  a  province  in  the  Western  world,  when 
he  was  become  some  forty  years  of  age.  He  believed 
he  should  be  gaining  for  his  friends,  still  under  harass 
in  the  old  lands,  a  New  Habitation  with  good  prospects 
of  prosperity,  freedom  and  peace,  in  which  he  proposed 
that  all  of  any  nation,  race,  or  colour  should  equally 
unite  on  the  broad  basis  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

He  was  already  acquainted  with  these  parts  of  North 
America  through  having  become  a  Trustee,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  purchase  and  settlement  of  the  adjoining 
districts  of  East  and  West  Jersey,  and  on  gaining 
Pennsylvania  as  its  sole  proprietor,  could  with  the  more 
confidence  issue  proposals  for  emigration  thither,  which 


PENN'S  GREAT  SEAL. 


i 


THE  FRIENDS. 


123 


met  with  such  cordial  response  that  ship  masters  be- 
came busy,  at  many  an  English  and  foreign  port,  in 
fitting  out  vessels  for  this  purpose.  These  went,  it  is 
said,  at  the  rate  of  one  a  week  for  years  together,  so  that 
in  seven  years  time  William  Penn's  colony  had  become 
more  populous  than  others  of  forty  years'  planting. 

It  was  foimded  on  the  broad  basis  that  the  people 
themselves  were  to  be  the  authors  of  their  own  laws,  in 
a  regularly  constituted  Assembly,  that  they  might  be 
free  from  the  abuse  of  power,  for  "  Liberty  without 
obedience  is  Confusion  —  and  Obedience  without 
Liberty  is  Slavery."  Associated  with  these  admirable 
views  of  the  Founder,  it  is  interesting  to  find  colonists 
\vriting  that  "  our  business  in  this  land  is  not  so  much 
to  build  houses,  and  establish  factories,  and  promote 
trade  and  manufactures  that  may  enrich  ourselves, 
(though  all  these  things  in  their  due  place)  as  to  erect 
temples  of  holiness  and  righteousness  which  God  may 
delight  in — to  lay  such  lasting  frames  and  foundations 
of  temperance  and  virtue,  as  may  support  the  super- 
structures of  our  future  happiness  both  in  this  and  the 
other  world."  And  another  Colonist  wrote,  "  here  we 
may  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  the 
divine  principle,  free  from  the  mouldy  errors  of  tradi- 
tion. Here  we  may  thrive  in  Peace  and  Retirement  in 
the  lap  of  unadulterated  Nature.  Here  we  may  im- 
prove our  innocent  course  of  life,  on  a  virgin  Elysian 
shore." 

The  colonists  on  arrival  lost  no  time  in  agreeing 
on  a  form  of  government,  by  a  representative  Assembly 


124 


THE  FRIENDS. 


whicli,  during  a  session  that  lasted  three  days,  passed  a 
(Series  of  laws  in  full  accord  with  the  liberal  sentiments 
of  their  founder.  All  that  held  themselves  in  conscience 
bound  to  live  peaceably  in  civil  society,  were  to  be  left 
free  as  to  religious  faith  and  practice,  so  that  they  ac- 
knowledged one  Almighty  and  Eternal  God  as  the 
Creator,  Upholder,  and  Ruler  of  the  World  ;  and 
amongst  other  and  many  good  and  sensible  enactments, 
was  a  special  provision  for  elementary  education,  which 
very  shortly  became  both  compulsory  and  free  for  every 
child  in  this  prosperous  colony. 

During  the  first  few  years  William  Penn  was  content 
to  be  represented  in  its  affairs  by  a  Deputy  of  his  ap- 
pointment, but  in  1682  he  sailed  in  the  ship  "Welcome," 
to  enter  personally  on  his  position  of  proprietor  and 
governor.  His  arrival  caused  much  enthusiasm,  and 
among  his  first  engagements  was  the  selection  of  a  site 
for  the  capital  of  his  province.  He  found  this  on  a 
level  tract  of  land  near  the  junction  of  the  rivers 
Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  which,  though  at  the  time 
covered  with  forest,  he  perceived  had  a  good  soil,  ex- 
cellent air,  with  abundant  springs  of  fresh  water,  whilst 
the  river  banks  would  ensure  ample  scope  for  wharves 
and  merchandise.  Here  on  a  scale,  rivalling  in  extent 
and  resembling  in  arrangement  Babylon  of  old,  were 
his  surveyors  directed  to  lay  out  street  and  square  for 
a  new  Metropolis  of  Brotherly  Love,  which  in  the 
names  given  to  its  rectangular  streets  of  oak  and  walnut, 
beech  and  locust,  chestnut,  larch,  or  pine,  conserves  to 
this  day  a  remembrance  of  its  varied  woodland  condi- 


STATUE  OF  WILLIAM  PENN  WHICH  IS  NOW  ERECTED  ON  THF 
CITY  HALL  PHILADELPHIA. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


125 


tion,  when  first  chosen  by  Penn  for  the  now  great 
city  of  Philadelphia. 

No  city  in  all  America  is  so  large  as  this  in 
extent  or  population  except  New  York,  and  with 
all  its  present  commercial  prosperity  and  historic 
associations  connected  with  American  Independence 
it  fails  not  to  cherish  the  memory  of  its  Founder. 
In  its  State  Museum  is  stored  every  relic  or 
record  it  can  obtain  of  him,  and  the  superb  edifice 
now  approaching  completion,  for  the  use  of  its 
State  Legislature  is  to  have  a  statue  of  William  Penn 
on  the  summit  of  its  central  tower,  which  is  so 
l.jfty  that  his  iron  effigy  will  soar  higher  than  the 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  or  the  cross  on  the  dome  of  St. 
Peter's. 

Thus  is  the  memory  publicly  exalted  of  one  wlio 
at  the  time  seemed  to  worldly-minded  men  unpractical 
and  enthusiastic  in  his  methods  of  settling  Pennsylva- 
nia, especially  when  they  learnt  his  resolution  to 
build  no  forts,  nor  put  trust  in  musketeers  or  cannon. 
'You  will  soon,"  said  the  merry  Monarch,  "be  in 
the  Indian's  war  kettle."  "  What  are  we  to  expect," 
exclaimed  the  agent  of  the  Duke  of  York,  "  from  such 
noddies  that  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  gin  and 
gunpowder,  and  say  that  guns  were  invented,  not  to 
kill  men,  but  hawks  and  wolves.  Are  they  likely  to 
extend  our  Conquests,  to  spread  our  Commerce,  to  exalt 
the  Glory  of  the  British  name,  and  above  all  to  propa- 
gate our  most  holy  Religion.  .  .  What  can  they 
promise  themselves  in  settling  among  the  fierce  and 


126 


THE  FRIENDS. 


blood-thirsty  savages  of  North  America,  but  to  be 
tomahawked  and  scalped,  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  of  them." 

This  naturally  introduces  an  account  of  how  William 
Penn  behaved  towards  these  natives,  of  whose  blood- 
thirstiness  both  King  and  ducal  agent  had  so  un- 
favourable an  opinion.  It  was  one  of  his  earliest 
efforts  on  landing,  to  seek  an  interview  with  them,  and 
rowing  up  the  river  to  the  place  appointed,  he  found 
large  numbers  of  Indians,  with  their  chiefs  fully 
armed,  waiting  for  him.  These,  on  perceiving  that 
neither  he  nor  his  friends  had  any  weapons  or  military 
escort,  laid  aside  their  own  bows  and  arrows,  and 
gathered  quietly  in  a  wide  semi-circle  around  this 
apostle  of  good-will  and  peace.  Their  king  now  put 
on  a  chaplet,  that  made  sacred,  in  Indian  minds,  not 
only  all  persons  present,  but  whatever  might  be  agreed 
npon  between  them,  and  then  requested  the  interpre- 
ter to  advance  and  assure  Penn  they  were  now 
prepared  to  hear  what  he  might  have  to  say  to  them. 
It  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words  : — Equal  rights 
and  equal  justice  for  both  Indian  and  Colonist,  all 
mutual  wrongs  to  be  settled  by  juries  equally  com- 
posed of  Whites  and  Indians,  and  a  free  interchange 
of  hospitality.  "  Good,"  said  the  Indian,  as  they 
grasped  Penn's  proffered  hand,  "  let  that  be  so  between 
lis  as  long  as  the  Sun  shall  shine  and  the  Rivers  flow." 
From  this  memorable  Conference,  (the  only  Treaty  it 
has  been  said  made  without  an  Oath  and  never  broken), 
it  has  resulted  that  Friends  and  Indians  have  always 


THE  FRIENDS. 


127 


kept  on  good  terms  with  one  another,  for  when 
differences  arose,  care  was  taken  speedily  to  end 
them  in  the  manner  thus  described. 

William  Penn  made  them  substantial  presents  on 
this  occasion,  and  was  careful,  both  as  to  himself  and  his 
friends,  that  in  acquiring  lands  it  should  be  by  means 
of  fair  purchase,  and  a  great  many  deeds  of  land-sales 
by  Indians  are  still  in  existence  ;  but  on  this  occasion 
his  object  was  a  treaty  of  goodwill,  which  both  by  him- 
self and  subsequent  governors  was  renewed  from  time 
to  time,  and  although  at  first  not  reduced  to  writing, 
(for  the  Indians  said  their  memories  were  their  records), 
yet  in  after  generations  parchment  scrolls  were  intro- 
duced, which  remain  to  this  day  subscribed  with  the 
dusky  warriors'  names,  or  their  quaint  symbolic  mark- 
ings, together  with  oificial  signatures  of  Governors  or 
Council. 

"Our  worthy  proprietor,"  wrote  a  colonist,  "treated 
the  Indians  with  extraordinary  humanity,  they  became 
very  civil  and  loving  to  us,  and  brought  abundance  of 
venison,  &c.,"  and  another  settler,  on  looking  back  in 
his  old  age  on  these  early  times  testified,  "  that  as  in 
other  countries  the  Indians  were  exasperated  by  hard 
treatment,  which  hath  been  the  foundation  of  much 
bloodshed,  so  contrary  treatment  hath  produced  their 
love  and  affection."  Bancroft  the  historian  writes, 
New  England  sought  safety  by  wars  of  extermination 
— the  Dutch  could  never  keep  peace  with  them,  nor 
were  the  adjoining  colonies  free  from  Indian  hostilities 
and  massacres,  whilst  the  unarmed  Friends  breathing 


128 


THE  FRIENDS. 


peace  and  goodwill,  knew  not  a  drop  of  their  blood  to 
have  been  shed  by  an  Indian.  Other  people  rode  to  their 
worship  armed,  Friends  "went  to  their  roeetings  without 
either  sword  or  gun.  having  their  trust  and  confidence 
in  God." 

Safe  that  quiet  Eden  lay, 

When  tlio  war-whoop  stirred  the  land, 

Thence  the  Indian  turned  awaj', 
From  their  homes  his  bloody  hand. 

Whittier. 

A  stately  elm  tree,  under  the  shadow  of  which 
Wi  1  liam  Penn  stood,  long  remained  a  treasured  memorial 
of  the  site  of  this  Treaty,  and  when  at  length  it  yielded  to 
age,  and  the  once  woodland  locality  became  busy  with 
■wharfage  and  shipping,  a  pillar  of  stone  was  erected  by 
an  historical  society  anxious  to  keep  in  remembrance 
the  site  of  this  memorable  scene,  which  the  picture  by 
West  has  made  so  familiar  to  us  by  its  engravings.  Thif^ 
may  be  taken  as  a  fair  representation,  for  the  artist  was 
born  near  the  place,  and  knew  Indians  from  his  child- 
hood. One  of  his  own  ancestors,  indeed,  had  accom- 
panied William  Penn  on  this  memorable  occasion,  and  is 
represented  as  with  him  in  the  picture. 

This  treatment  of  Indians  as  fellow  men  instead  of 
savages,  and  with  justice  instead  of  "gin  and  gunpow- 
der," accorded  with  the  whole  of  William  Penn's  arrange- 
ments connected  with  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania. 
"The  Nations  (he  observes)  want  a  precedent,  and 
because  I  have  been  somewhat  exercised  about  the 
nature  and  end  of  government  among  men,  it  is  reason- 
able to  expect  that  I  should  endeavour  to  establish  a 


THE  FKIENDS. 


129 


just  and  righteous  one  in  this  province,  that  others  may 
take  example  by  it."  And  in  doing  this  he  gave  free 
welcome  to  settlers  of  all  religious  persuasions,  and 
refugees  from  all  countries  whatsoever,  but  always 
intended  Friends  should  retain  a  leading  power  in  the 
government,  observing  "  I  went  thither  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  free  colony  for  all  mankind,  more 
especially  those  of  my  own  persuasion,  not  that  I  would 
lessen  the  civil  liberties  of  others  because  of  their 
persuasion,  but  screen  and  defend  our  own  from  any 
infringement  on  that  account." 

During  seventy  years  the  followers  of  William 
Penn  commanded  this  majority  in  the  Legislative 
Assembly  of  the  Province.  And  of  that  time  it  has  been 
said  "no  spot  on  the  globe  could  be  found  where  number 
for  number,  there  was  so  much  virtue  and  so  much 
happiness  as  among  the  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania." 

Of  all  the  American  Slates  none  was  founded  on  a 
more  philanthropic  basis,  nor  had  any  other  so  rapid 
an  increase  in  population  and  prosperity.  It  was  also, 
during  this  time  of  Friends'  control  over  the  govern- 
ment, kept  free  from  any  embroilment  in  the  surround- 
ing wars,  either  with  French  Colonists  or  Indians. 
There  was  little  of  internal  dissension  to  disturb  its 
harmony,  until  the  British  Crown  began  to  make 
demands  on  its  legislature  for  war  subsidies,  in  aid  of 
expeditions  against  the  adjoining  French  settlements, 
on  which  the  Friends,  finding  themselves  in  a  minority, 
withdrew  from  further  management  of  State  Affairs, 
and  the  History  of  Pennsylvania  gradually  merges  in 


130 


THE  FRIENDS. 


that  of  the  United  States.  Congress  eventually  bought 
out  the  proprietary  interests  of  William  Penn's  descend- 
ants for  £115,000.  In  the  War  of  Independence, 
Friends  conscientiously  took  no  share,  but  suffered 
much  obloquy,  and  some  were  banished  or  suffered  im- 
prisonment and  other  kinds  of  persecution,  from 
assumed  want  of  patriotism  in  not  rising  with  others 
against  the  British  Crown. 

William  Penn  would  like  to  have  made  a  permanent 
residence  in  his  Colonial  possession,  where  he  built 
himself  a  fine  mansion,  surrounded  with  ornamental 
grounds  overlooking  the  river,  but  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution,  when  the  British  Crown  passed  from 
James  II.  to  William  III.,  his  chartered  interests 
derived  from  the  deposed  monarch,  were  so  seriously 
threatened  as  to  oblige  a  return  to  England,  and  the 
new  King  being  acquainted  with  the  life-long  friend- 
ship William  Penn  had  had  with  James,  was  long 
before  he  could  entertain  a  sufficient  sense  of  his 
loyalty  to  confirm  him  in  these  Pennsylvanian  pos- 
sessions. Being  at  length  re-assured  as  to  them  he 
again  went  thither,  taking  his  wife  and  family,  with 
full  intention  of  a  permanent  residence  among  his 
friends  and  Colonists,  who  welcomed  him  back  with 
every  demonstration  of  joy. 

But  fresh  difficulties  arose,  through  the  Home 
Government  showing  a  disposition  to  merge  all  the 
proprietary  settlements  into  possessions  of  the  Crown, 
under  an  Act  of  Parliament,  which  necessitated  William 
Penn's  presence  in  England,  for  which  he  left,  with 


THE  FRIENDS. 


131 


his  wife  and  family,  hoping  for  but  a  brief  absence 
from  his  miich-loved  colony,  yet  he  never  returned 
there,  for  although  successful  in  retaining  his  charter 
rights  on  account  of  his  wise  and  liberal  mode  of 
government,  he  found  himself  beset  with  so  many 
difficulties,  and  involved  in  such  pecuniary  responsi- 
bilities as  to  place  him  for  awhile  in  embarrassed 
circumstances.  No  admiration  for  his  general  high 
and  noble  character  can  be  truthful,  without  admitting 
he  was  too  confiding  in  the  honour  of  some  who  proved 
unworthy  of  his  trust,  and  with  all  his  talents  and 
virtues,  he  had  not  that  application  to  financial  details, 
which  might  have  saved  his  public  spirited  nature 
from  the  monetary  troubles  that  impoverished  his  own 
estate,  and  left  him,  during  the  closing  years  of  his 
life,  dependent  on  his  wife's  jointure  for  support.  "  0 
Philadelphia,"  he  wrote,  "  what  hast  thou  not  cost  me 
in  mental  worries  and  pecuniary  losses..  I  cannot  but 
think  it  hard  measure  in  that  while  that  has  proved  a 
land  of  freedom  and  flourishing,  it  should  become  to 
me — by  whose  means  it  was  principally  made  a 
Country — the  cause  of  grief,  trouble  and  poverty." 

William  Penn  was  twice  married.  His  dear  Guli, 
the  wife  of  his  youth,  died  in  1693,  in  her  fiftieth  year, 
and  her  eldest  son,  Springett  Penn,  a  youth  of  much 
promise,  died  not  long  after.  She  was  a  lady  of  high 
birth  and  great  virtues,  and,  as  her  afflicted  husband 
said,  "a  public  as  well  as  a  private  loss."  He  married, 
for  his  second  wife,  Hannah  Callowhill,  of  Bristol,  in 
1696,  who  also  became  the  mother  of  a  family,  and 


132 


THE  FRIENDS. 


proved  in  all  respects  a  true  helpmeet  to  her  husband, 
whom  she  accompanied  on  his  second  visit  to  America. 
On  their  return  she  was  of  much  assistance  in  helping 
him  through  financial  trials,  and  during  his  latter 
years,  when  greatly  enfeebled  with  age,  cared  for 
him  and  his  affairs  with  devoted  affection  and  great 
administrative  skill.  She  survived  his  death  in  1718 
by  eight  years,  and  lies  buried  in  the  same  grave 
as  her  husband,  in  the  rural  burial  ground  of 
Jordans,  where  rest  so  many  other  of  the  worthies 
who  used  to  gather  for  worship  in  its  ancient  Meet- 
ing House. 

William  Penn's  mental  powers,  which  had  been  so 
remarkable,  greatly  failed  him  during  his  latter  years, 
and  incapacitated  him  from  attending  to  his  own  affairs, 
but  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends  he  could  still  take  part 
in  ministry  at  meetings,  and  never  lost  his  cheerfulness 
of  spirit  or  sweetness  of  disposition.  In  the  memorial 
notice  they  wrote  concerning  him,  he  is  described  as 
"  a  man  of  great  abilities,  of  an  excellent  sweetness  of 
disposition  .  .  .  learned  without  vanity,  apt  with- 
out forwardness,  facetious  in  conversation,  yet  weighty 
and  serious,  of  an  extraordinary  greatness  of  mind,  yet 
void  of  the  stain  of  ambition,  as  free  from  rigid  gravity 
as  he  was  clear  of  unseemly  levity,  a  man,  a  scholar,  a 
friend  .  .  .  whose  memorial  will  be  valued  by  the 
wise  and  blessed  by  the  just."  He  was  of  a  tall  and 
portly  frame,  inclined  in  later  years  to  corpulency, 
which  he  kept  under  by  exercise  ;  very  neat  in  all  his 
personal  habits  and  dress  ;  the  gentleman  being  well 


THE  FRIENDS. 


133 


preserved  in  the  Friend,  "nor  need  it  (he  used  to  say) 
be  lost  in  becoming  one." 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Pennsylvania  was  become 
peopled  by  40,000,  half  of  these  Friends,  the  others 
Presbyterians,  Lutherans,  and  Episcopaliane,  between 
w  hom  concord  prevailed  and  a  high  tone  of  moral  feel- 
ing. Theatres,  horse  races,  and  vain  sports  were  not 
allowed.  The  first  day  of  the  week  was  well  observed. 
Lotteries,  pawnbrokers,  and  beggars  were  unknown. 
Swearing  and  drunkenness  were  punished  by  law,  and 
during  William  Penn's  life-time  not  a  duel  in  that 
duelling  age  had  disgraced  the  community.  The  only 
instrument  of  authority  was  the  constable's  staff,  yet 
never  was  there  a  government  with  less  internal  dis- 
turbance or  more  outward  decorum. 

Philadelphia  is  now,  like  Nineveh  of  old,  become 
a  million  peopled  City,  of  which  the  Friends  form  still 
a  large  and  influential  portion,  especially  when  the  two 
nearly  equal  sections  of  Unitarian  and  Orthodox  are 
considered  together.  Their  somewhat  numerous  meet- 
ing-houses attract  attention  by  their  size  and  plain 
substantiality.  Some  sections  of  these  Congregations 
show  much  earnestness  in  social  reform  and  missionary 
efforts,  but  as  a  whole  may  be  considered  more  remark- 
able for  strict  propriety  of  life,  and  care  in  training  the 
young,  for  whom  they  maintain  most  excellent  Schools 
and  some  large  and  well  appointed  Colleges. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


MINISTERS  AMOKGST  THE  SETTLERS  IN  AMERICA. 

Feed  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among  you,  taking  the 
oversight  thereof — not  by  constraint,  but  willingly  ;  nor  for 
filthy  lucre,  but  of  a  ready  mind. — I  Pet.  v.  2. 


HATEVER  of  surprise  it  might  cause  the  worldly- 


wise  for  Friends  to  settle  in  Pennsylvania  amongst 
savages,  without  the  bribe  of  gin  or  the  defence  of  gun- 
powder, must  have  been  equally  felt  by  those  accustomed 
to  Ecclesiastical  arrangements,  for  such  an  undertaking  to 
be  made  without  any  provision  of  appointed  Chaplains 
or  salaried  Ministers  of  religion.  Yet  as  their  peace- 
able methods  were  successful  in  securing  safety  and 
prosperity,  so  their  reliance  on  one  another's  spiritual 
gifts  was  met  by  an  unfailing  supply  of  gospel  ministry. 
It  shows  their  religious  zeal  to  find,  that  the  first 
structure  erected  by  them  in  Philadelphia  was  a  log- 
framed  Meeting-house,  whilst  still  living  themselves  in 
tents  or  caves,  and  that  this  soon  became  replaced  by 
one  more  spacious,  of  solid  brickwork,  where  they 
could  meet  to  wait,  in  dependence  on  the  Lord,  that 
He  would  Himself  minister  direct  to  the  heart,  or  by 
one  or  another  of  those  assembled  in  His  name,  and 
the  waj'  in  which  such  Meeting-houses  multiplied,  is 
an  indication  that  this  zeal  in  public  worship  kept 
pace  with  the  rapidly  increasing  population. 

Here  may  be  introduced  some  few  words  of  com- 
ment on  the  ministering  Friends  that  either  visited 


THE  FRIENDS. 


135 


them  or  were  settled  amongst  them,  drawn  chiefly 
from  brief  notices  at  the  time  of  their  living  and  labours. 
None,  as  before  said,  received  any  out  ward  remuneration. 
Even  those  travelling  were  only  repaid  their  expenses 
and  cost  of  living,  and  many  of  them  who  could  afford 
it  travelled  at  their  own  charges.  Great  diversity 
obtained  both  in  rank,  age,  and  education  ;  some  were 
husbandmen,  others  persons  of  literary  acquirements, 
a  few  were  well  advanced  in  years,  but  the  majox-ity 
were  young  and  full  of  enterprise,  none  more  so  than 
many  of  the  women  amongst  them. 

James  Martin^  from  London,  weakly,  but  devoted 
to  the  work  and  service  of  the  gospel. 

Roger  Langworth,  from  Lancashire,  a  great 
traveller  in  the  British  Isles  and  Europe,  settled  meet- 
ings, gave  great  comfort,  got  a  name  among  the 
ancients,  and  is  recorded  among  the  worthies  of  the 
Lord. 

Robert  Barrow,  eminently  gifted  in  the  ministry. 

Ralph  Warden,  an  ancient  Friend,  with  extra- 
ordinary talent  for  the  discipline. 

Jonathan  Tyler,  a  noble  instrument  in  the  hand 
of  God. 

William  Ellis  and  Aaron  Atkinson,  whereof 
William  was  an  authoritative  minister  of  the  Gospel, 
and  Aaron  a  mighty  tender  man. 

Roger  Gill — the  power  of  the  Lord  was  with  him, 
so  that  his  testimony  was  with  authority,  and  the  truth 
was  raised  by  it  in  others. 

Thomas  TJiumpson  and  Josiah  Langdale — Thomas 


136 


THE  FRIENDS. 


informed  us  that  when  he  was  binding  sheaves  in  his 
native  land,  he  became  impressed  with  a  duty  to  visit 
us ;  he  was  a  sound  preacher  ;  his  companion  Josiah 
was  also  a  fine  tender  man,  earnestly  pressing  people  to 
fear  the  Lord,  saying  if  he  could  gain  but  one  soul,  or 
turn  but  one  to  Truth  in  all  his  travels  he  should  be 
well  satisfied. 

John  Salkeld,  a  notable  man  to  proclaim  thegospeL 

Tiiomas  Turner,  an  ancient  Friend,  whose  testi- 
mony was  that  the  enemies  should  be  scattered  and  the 
Truth  come  into  dominion.  He  had  meetings  with  the 
Indians  in  their  places  of  abode,  and  was  very  loving, 
and  the  Indians  had  great  regard  and  kindness  for  him. 

John  Richardson,  the  bent  of  whose  testimony 
was  much  to  press  people  to  honesty  and  uprightness. 

John  Estaugh,  a  mild  man,  desiring  people  to  be 
true  to  what  was  made  known  to  them. 

Mary  Ellerton  and  Mary  Banister,  both  valiant 
faithful  women. 

John  Fothergill  and  William  Armistead,  who  were 
also  very  tender  honest  Friends.  Oh,  the  good  frame 
of  spirit,  and  how  the  power  of  the  trutli  was  with 
John  Fothergill  ! 

Samuel  Bownas,a.  mighty  valiant  minister  to  open 
the  mystery  of  Babylon.  He  was  imprisoned  while 
in  America,  and  not  to  be  chargeable  to  any,  learnt 
ehoemaking  and  supported  himself  until  his  release. 

Samuel  Wilkinson  and  Patrick  Hendei'son,  where- 
of Samuel  was  a  plain  man,  had  a  fine  testimony  for 
truth,  and  his  companion  was  a  wise  man,  large  in  his 


THE  FRIENDS. 


137 


testimony,  and  of  singular  parts.  May  he  keep  to  the 
Root  that  bore  him.  James  Logan  writing  to  William 
Penn  of  these  two  young  Scotchmen,  describes  them 
"as  some  of  the  most  extraordinary  that  ever  visited 
those  parts ;  of  such  as  these  the  more  always  the  better." 

John  Turner,  a  good  and  sound  old  man,  much 
against  wrath  and  contention. 

Thomas  Wilson  James  Dickenson,  these  were 
both  very  noted  men  ;  they  had  an  open  door  among 
all  sorts,  and  reached  the  hearts  of  many  people. 

William  Armstrong  and  James  Graham,  their 
testimony  was  precious.  Oh,  the  good  frame  of  spirit 
they  were  in,  exhorting  the  people  to  walk  humbly  and 
serve  the  Lord  daily  ;  it  was  a  laborious  work,  there 
being  that  to  weigh  down  that  would  do  hurt,  and  to 
search  out  the  obstructions  to  the  love  and  life  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  gather  back  and  hedge  in 
such  as  were  like  to  wander  awaj-. 

The  preceding  notes  refer  to  those  who  visited 
America  from  other  lands  on  Gospel  Service,  to  which 
a  few  may  be  added  as  to  those  amongst  the  Emigrants 
themselves,  who  were  in  much  esteem  amongst  them 
for  their  ministry. 

Israel  Pemherton,  of  Philadelphia,  himself  largely 
engaged  as  a  Merchant,  and  influential  both  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Colony  and  the  Society,  had  three  sons, 
Israel,  James  and  John  ;  each  of  whom  devoted  him- 
self to  the  service  of  the  public  and  their  Friends. 
All  three  were  men  of  superior  abilities  and  character, 
high  also  in  social  position.    John  travelled  much  in 


138 


THE  FRIENDS. 


the  ministry,  and  lies  buried  at  Pyrmont,  in  Germany, 
where  his  death  occurred  whilst  on  religious  service 
there,  having  undertaken  the  journey  when  nearly  70 
years  of- age. 

Members  of  the  Lloyd  family  were  of  much  service 
as  able  statesmen.  One  whom  Whittier  calls  learned 
Lloyd,  was  for  some  years  its  Governor. 

Michael  Lightfoot,  Susanna  Morris,  Abraham 
Farrington  and  Benjamin  Trotter,  are  a  group  of 
ministers,  zealous  in  their  day  and  abundant  in 
labours. 

JoJin  Woolman's  character  is  monumental  for 
deep  piety  and  conscientiousness,  and  to  get  the 
writings  of  John  Woolman  by  heart,  is,  according  to 
Charles  Lamb,  to  fall  in  love  with  the  early  Friends. 

Daniel  Stanton  and  John  Churchman,  Sarah 
Morris  and  Joseph  WMte,  are  each  of  them  ministers, 
whose  journeys  were  extensive  in  America  and 
England,  John  Churchman's  especially,  as  his  pub- 
lished Journals  set  forth. 

Samxiel  Emlen  possessed  a  highly  cultivated  mind 
and  though  infirm  as  to  health,  it  seemed  in  no  way  to 
plaken  his  efforts  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  both  in 
America  and  in  visits  to  England. 

William  Savery  also  was  of  a  very  superior  order 
of  mind,  so  highly  cultivated  as  to  add  greatly  to  the 
power  of  his  ministry,  in  the  course  of  which  during  a 
visit  to  England,  Elizabeth  Fry,  when  a  gay  Miss 
Gurney,  became  changed  from  a  lover  of  the  world,  to 
a  life  of  such  devotedness  to  her  Saviour  as  to  have 


THE  FRIENDS. 


139 


made  her  piety  and  good  works  so  widely  known. 

Nicholas  Wain  was  a  Barrister  and  a  most  able 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  for  the  sake  of  which  he  was 
content  to  forego  honours  that  his  eloquence  in  the 
Courts  were  opening  to  him. 

George  Dilliinjn  was  another  instance  of  ability 
and  culture,  freely  devoted  to  the  service  of  the 
Gospel,  both  in  America  and  England,  where  he 
resided  for  several  years,  and  travelled  also  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  which  was  difficult  of  accom- 
plishment at  that  time  through  the  wars  then  prevailing. 

Many  more  names  might  be  quoted  of  men  and 
women  Friends  actively  eu gaged  in  the  affairs  of  this 
life,  yet  greatly  valued  for  their  Gospel  service  ;  and 
James  Logan,  although  taking  no  part  in  this,  dis- 
charged the  responsible  office  of  Chief  Judge  and 
other  high  offices  in  so  exemplary  a  manner  as  to  show 
the  religious  principle  that  governed  his  life.  He  has 
been  described  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  learned  of 
all  the  early  settlers. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


DEATH  OF  GEORGE  FOX. 

rpHE  opening  of  1690-1  is  marked  in  the  Society's 
Annals  by  the  decease  of  George  Fox,  whose  long 
and  laborious  life  was  terminated  by  an  illness  of  a  few 
days  through  a  chill  taken  whilst  attending  meetings 
in  London.  He  died  at  a  Friend's  residence  adjoining 
the  Lombard  Street  Meeting-House,  where  his  voice 
had  been  heard  for  the  last  time  in  powerful  ministry 
and  earnest  prayer. 

Over  his  closing  hours  such  peace  prevailed  that 
it  was  said  "  Death  seemed  to  him  as  if  it  were  worth 
scarce  a  mention,"  but  his  Friends  mournfully  gathered 
by  the  thousands  to  accompany  the  remains  to  a 
London  Burial  Ground  near  Bunhill  Fields,  where, 
amidst  tearful  eyes  and  saddened  hearts,  many  testi- 
monies were  borne  to  his  work  and  blessed  results. 

He  was  about  66  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  and  for  the  last  sixteen  years  had  been  husband 
to  Margaret  Fell,  the  widow  of  Swarthmore  Hall, 
which  marriage  might  to  all  appearance  have  provided 
for  him  a  country  residence  during  his  declining  years, 
but  neither  of  them  allowed  their  own  comfort  to  be 
other  than  subordinate  to  the  claims  of  a  Society,  to 
whose  welfare  they  had  both  of  them  devoted  their  lives 
— and  as  a  consequence  but  little  experience  of  home- 
life  ensued,  so  pressing  were  the  engagements  connected 
with  its  affairs  in  which  Margaret  Fell  had  from  the 


THE  FEIBNDS. 


141 


first  taken  deep  interest.  She  was  at  the  time  ol 
this  second  marriage  about  sixty  years  of  age,  and  her 
daughters  were  well  married  and  settled  in  homes  of 
their  own.  These  viewed  with  satisfaction  the  wed- 
ding of  their  mother,  with  one  for  whom  they  felt 
themselves  a  strong  aflEection,  and  on  his  part  he  was 
careful  lest  his  marriage  with  their  parent  should  iu 
any  way  affect  their  pecuniary  interest  in  her 
property. 

It  terminated  a  widowhood  of  sixteen  years,  and 
after  about  as  many  more  of  this  second  married  life, 
she  survived  George  Fox  by  ten  years,  her  own  death 
not  occurring  until  she  had  reached  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-eight. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  almost  directly  after 
the  marriage,  her  husband  set  sail  for  the  West  Indies 
and  America,  on  the  return  from  which  long  and 
arduous  service,  his  wife  accompanied  him  in  visiting 
Friends'  meetings  in  the  Midland  Counties,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  was  arrested  at  Worcester,  and 
it  was  not  until  after  a  year  of  much  suffering  through 
his  ill  treatment  in  prison  that  Friends  succeeded  with 
the  King  to  have  his  case  brought  up  to  London  before 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  where  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
one  of  the  best  of  judges  England  has  ever  had,  gave 
him  so  full  an  acquittal,  that  George  Fox  was  never 
molested  further,  and  was  able  to  recruit  his  shattered 
health  by  a  few  years  of  domestic  quiet  at  Swarthmore 
Hall,  during  which  he  arranged  his  papers  connected 
with  the  early  history  of  the  Society.    Having  thus  in 


142 


THE  FRIENDS. 


measure  recovered  strength,  the  rest  of  his  life  up  to 
the  time  of  his  decease  was  spent  chiefly  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  London,  attending  its  meetings,  and  oft  in 
council  with  his  brethren  on  important  matters  affecting 
the  interest  of  the  Society  at  large. 

As  might  be  expected,  many  testimonies  were 
borne  to  his  worth  by  those  who  knew  him,  of  which 
some  brief  extracts  have  been  already  given,  from 
such  as  are  printed  with  his  published  works.  It  may 
be  further  added  that  William  Penn  described  him  as 
one  who  "  united  a  religious  majesty  with  a  most  en- 
gaging humility  and  moderation,"  and  testifies  to  "the 
depth  and  power  of  his  ministry,  its  convincing  and 
confirming  character.  Above  all,"  he  says,  "  he  ex- 
celled in  prayer.  The  inwardness  and  weight  of  his 
Bpirit,  the  reverence  and  solemnity  of  his  address  and 
behaviour,  and  the  fewness  and  fullness  of  his  words, 
the  most  awful  living  reverent  frame  I  ever  felt  or 
beheld  was  his  in  prayer." 

To  his  friends  of  the  present  day  is  the  memory 
of  this  eminent  labourer  in  the  gospel  vineyard  very 
precious,  as  of  one  enabled  to  open  more  fully  than  any 
before,  the  riches  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
He  desired  not  personal  honour  nor  any  dependence 
of  others  on  himself,  but  that  all  might  be  directed  to 
the  true  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world,  the  Teacher  that  teacheth  as  never  man 
taught,  and  he  so  directed  his  hearers  that  they  migh  t 
seek  to  know  in  their  hearts  an  experience,  that  woul  I 
1  ring  them  to  adopt  for  themselves  his  own  declara- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


143 


tion  : — We  were  nothing,  Christ  is  all. 

True  to  their  practice  of  makinfjf  no  distinction  in 
the  grave,  whereunto  all  men  hasted,  the  Friends  (who 
to  the  number  of  4,000  had  followed  their  beloved 
chief  to  the  burial  ground)  raised  no  monument  over 
the  place  of  his  interment,  but  an  aflEectionate  interest 
preserved  its  situation  in  remembrance  through  various 
generations,  and  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  during  an 
excavation  needed  in  some  repairs  to  foundations  of  a 
boundary  wall  against  which  it  had  been  made,  a  coffin 
was  uncovered  with  the  initals  G.  F.  cut  on  it.  An 
apprentice  engaged  in  the  work,  tempted  by  curiosity 
whilst  the  others  were  gone  to  dinner,  lifted  its  lid  and 
saw  the  fine  features  and  long  hair  of  the  corpse  still 
remaining.  Astonished  at  the  sight  he  called  for  his 
master,  whose  greater  weight  as  he  descended  the 
ladder  so  jarred  the  coffin  that  all  as  in  a  moment 
vanished  into  undistinguishable  dust.  The  apprentice, 
however,  retained  throughout  his  long  life  a  vivid  re- 
membrance of  what  when  a  boy  he  had  thus  seen,  and 
there  are  those  still  living  who  have  heard  from  Friends 
of  cool  judgment  what  they  had  been  told  by  him  of 
this  remarkable  occurrence.  A  plain  headstone  now 
mai'ks  the  site  of  the  grave  as  the  discovery  of  an  old 
vellum  plan  enabled  its  position  to  be  thus  indicated 
with  approximate  certainty,  and  large  Memorial  Build- 
ings recently  erected  in  this  locality,  shew  that  the 
Society  he  founded  is  in  its  two  hundred  and  fortieth 
year  still  active  for  good  amidst  London's  population. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 


SOCIETY  ORGANISATION. 

"  The  age  of  intolerance,  of  popular  violence,  of  systematic 
persecution,  was  gone  by,  but  the  age  of  prosperity,  and  of  self- 
indulgence  ;  the  age  of  formality,  of  spiritual  lethargy  and  lean- 
ness was  stealing  on." — Bancroft. 

nnHE  Revolution  of  1688,  which  deposed  James  the 
Second  and  gave  the  English  Crown  to  William  of 
Orange,  introduced  an  era  of  Toleration  for  loyal  Pro- 
testants in  their  various  forms  of  worship. 

William  had  been  accustomed  thus  to  govern  in 
Holland,  and  found  it  his  interest  to  secure  the  support 
of  those  of  various  Denominations  against  Catholic 
efforts — fostered  by  the  French  King — to  replace  James 
on  the  throne. 

For  Friends'  relief  a  form  of  Declaration  of  Allegi- 
ance and  Fidelity  was  arranged  with  King  and  Parlia- 
ment in  substitution  of  the  Oath  formerly  required  ; 
and  their  Assemblies  were  now  recognised  as  entitled 
to  legal  protection  if  continued  to  be  held,  as  they 
always  had  been,  with  unbolted  doors. 

With  this  peaceful  termination  of  nearly forty  years' 
continued  suffering,  the  history  of  the  Society  changes 
to  one  of  its  internal  government  and  organisation, 
which  suggests  that  some  account  should  be  given  of 
the  arrangements  by  which  its  social  unity  is  regulated. 

These  as  they  are  examined  will  be  found  to 
combine  freedom  of  parts  with  unity  as  a  whole,  and 


THE  FRIENDS. 


are  effected  through  three  classes  of  meetings,  known 
as  Monthly,  Quarterly,  and  Yearly  Meetings. 

The  first  of  these  which  it  has  been  seen  George 
Fox  was  the  means  of  establishing  throughout  the  nation, 
remain  now — as  ever — the  executive  feature  of  the  whole 
system,  and  are  composed  officially  of  representatives 
chosen  monthly  from  each  of  two  or  more  congregations, 
who  when  thus  assembled  consider  and  order  what 
may  be  found  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  those  whose 
congregational  interest  they  represent.  Entrusted  with 
such  powers,  it  will  be  understood  how  earnest  was 
the  desire,  as  ancient  records  show,  to  secure  for  this 
service  "just  and  righteous  men  of  sound  principles 
and  judgment  in  the  truth  of  Christ,  and  sound  and 
blameless  conversation,  men  in  love  and  unity  among 
themselves,"  and  also  that  whilst  such  are  chosen  to  at- 
tend there  may  yet  be  liberty  for  any  other  Friend  to 
be  present.  Such  arrangement  ensures  publicity  and 
general  interest  among  the  members  in  the  welfare  of 
these  congregations  ;  women  Friends  have  also  their 
their  own  Monthly  Meetings,  formed  on  a  similar  plan 
and  often  are  the  two  united  in  a /omi  consideration  of 
subjects  of  special  importance. 

The  subjects  that  come  before  these  gatherings 
refer  rather  to  good  order  and  right  conduct  in  life 
than  to  doctrinal  questions.  For  with  the  poet  is  the 
Friend  in  accord  when  he  says — 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight. 
His  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 

If  any  were  found  walking  disorderly  or  failing  to 


146 


THE  FRIENDS. 


discharge  just  debts,  such  would  be  visited  by  appoint- 
ment of  these  Monthly  Meetings,  and  if  remonstrance 
failed  to  effect  amendment,  and  no  other  course  opened, 
a  testimony  of  disunity  would  be  issued  to  clear  the 
Society  from  sharing  in  any  reproachful  conduct.  All 
differences  between  Members  it  would  be  sought  to 
settle  by  arbitration,  and  so  avoid  "  brother  going  to  law 
with  brother."  Over  marriages  it  exercised  a  watchful 
care,  especially  needful  in  an  age  when  so  many  were 
clandestinely  effected.  The  parties  proposing  to  enter 
into  such  engagements  were  required  to  attend  per- 
Bonally  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  and  there  individually 
express  their  intentions,  and  not  until  the  Meeting  was 
assured  by  appointments  then  made  that  they  were 
clear  from  all  other,  and  had  consent  of  parents  -^tr 
guardians,  would  it  issue  its  sanction  for  the  solemniza- 
tion of  the  marriage  ;  which  it  was  also  careful  should 
take  place  at  one  of  its  public  assemblies  for  worship. 
Owing  to  these  precautions  Friends'  marriages  have 
rarely  failed  in  proving  the  source  of  hajipy  homes, 
and  the  State  has  acknowledged  this  judicious  care,  by 
granting  the  Society  a  privilege  shared  by  no  other 
Nonconformists  except  the  Jews  of  having  its  own 
Registering  Officers  of  Marriage.  A  like  care  was  shown 
from  the  beginning  in  keeping  a  record  of  births  in 
Friends'  families,  and  deaths  and  burials,  which  are  now 
collected  into  books  at  the  central  office  in  London, 
and  form  an  important  genealogical  series  extending 
throughout  more  than  two  hundred  years,  in  frequent 
use  in  connection  with  wills  and  successions  to  property. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


147 


At  such  Monthly  Meetings  funds  were  also  raised 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  poorer  members,  assist  in  the 
education  of  their  children,  or  in  binding  them  ap- 
prentice to  some  useful  employment,  so  that  there 
might  be  no  want  nor  preventible  distress  unrelieved 
amongst  them,  and  everyone  be  concerned  for  the 
other's  good. 

Many  practical  details  respecting  the  provision  of, 
and  care  over  Meeting-places  and  Burial  Grounds 
would  receive  attention  on  these  recurrent  occasions, 
and  suitable  appointments  be  made  such  as  Over- 
seers in  respect  to  the  poor,  and  Elders  to  watch 
over  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  congregation.  As  to 
the  ministry,  no  such  arrangements  are  made,  for  with 
Friends  its  exercise  is  regarded  as  the  result  of  a  Divine 
gift,  which  when  by  experience  they  feel  has  been  con- 
ferred on  any,  they  acknowledge  it,  not  by  appointment 
but  by  recording  the  Friend  as  a  Minister,  which  con- 
veys in  itself  no  legislative  power  in  the  Church, 
as  is  so  much  the  case  with  other  religious  organisa- 
tions. 

In  thus  reviewing  the  Society's  constitution,  it  will  be 
obvious  that  as  individual  congregations  derive  strength 
from  union  with  some  others  in  Monthly  Meetings, 
so  do  these  latter  by  an  arrangement  that  groups  them 
into  Quarterly  Meetings  to  which  they  send  their  Repre- 
sentatives ;  and  yet  further,  such  Quarterly  Meetings,  of 
of  which  there  are  Eighteen  in  England  and  Scotland, 
unite  by  an  annual  choice  of  representatives  in  holding 
a  General  Council  once  a  year  ;  which  is  so  important 


148 


THE  FRIENDS. 


a  feature  in  the  Society  that  some  further  particulars 
of  it  may  be  acceptable. 

It  is  a  Composite  as  "well  as  a  Representative 
Assembly,  for  every  recorded  Minister  or  appointed 
Elder  throughout  the  Society  is  a  member  of  it,  and  of 
later  years  it  has  been  the  custom  to  exclude  no 
one  who  is  a  member  from  its  deliberations,  although 
not  under  appointment  as  a  representative  from  the 
Quarterly  Meetings. 

This  openness  much  favours  the  general  acceptance 
of  any  advice  it  may  issue,  or  conclusions  it  may  have 
formed.  It  is  controlled  by  no  President  or  Chairman, 
but  each  year  it  selects  a  Clerk  and  two  Assistants  to 
guide  and  record  its  decisions. 

Frequently  nearly  a  thousand  men  Friends  of 
various  social  rank  and  age  will  be  thus  assembled,  and 
as  nothing  is  decided  by  majorities,  or  ascertained  through 
voting  or  by  show  of  hands,  it  might  seem  impracticable 
for  anyone  acting  as  its  Clerk  to  arrive  at  the  judgment 
of  the  Meeting,  when  debateable  subjects  of  great 
interest  were  under  consideration.  But  there  is  such  a 
sense  of  being  assembled  under  the  Presidency  of  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  Himself  ;  present  by  His  Spirit, 
that  it  keeps  down  heated  discussion,  and  preserves, 
amid  earnestness  of  feeling,  a  reverential  spirit. 
All  who  speak  are  expected  to  confine  themselves  to 
the  subject  in  hand,  and  not  to  make  speeches  founded 
on  others'  remarks.  They  are  listened  to  without  any 
of  the  usual  expressions  of  dissent  or  applause,  which, 
when  occurring,  the  Clerk  is  prompt  to  repress,  and 


THE  FRIENDS. 


149 


thus  the  Society  has  in  this  large  and  annually  occurring 
Assembly  never  been  without  some  Friend  who,  as  its 
Clerk  with  his  two  assistants,  could  offer  what  seemed 
to  him  as  the  judgment  of  the  meeting,  and  embody  it 
in  a  minute  that  met  with  general  acceptance. 

A  care  also  exists  not  to  press  matters  on  which 
much  difference  of  opinion  prevails  to  a  decision,  and 
the  rather  when  such  may  be  the  case,  to  defer  it  for 
reconsideration  another  year.  Often  (if  important) 
will  it  thus  have  deferred  subjects  for  several  years  in 
succession,  or  else  let  them  form  the  subject  of  a  special 
Conference,  convened  for  their  consideration  and 
report. 

In  these  ways  and  by  this  care  great  changes  have 
from  time  to  time  been  made  in  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  a  Society,  which  can  believe  in  "walking  on 
the  old  ways  "  with  an  attention  to  Divine  guidance, 
that  shows  when  alterations  are  needed,  and  how  they 
can  be  made  to  suit  present  circumstances,  without 
infringing  on  original  principles. 

These  meetings  in  their  ascending  scale  of  Monthly, 
Quarterly,  and  Annual,  though  chiefly  concerned  with 
subjects  affecting  good  order  in  outward  conduct,  must 
not  be  supposed  to  omit  watchfulness  over  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  Community,  for  there  is  the  same 
gradation  of  meetings  composed  of  ministers,  elders, 
and  overseers,  men  and  women  together,  who  have  these 
under  their  more  especial  care,  but  without  any  legis- 
lative power.  And  should  any  Friend  feel  him- 
self called  to  travel  in  the  ministry  to  other  Yearly 


150 


THE  FRIENDS. 


meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  from 
these  meetings  of  his  brethren  and  sisters  in  the 
ministry,  that  sanction  must  be  obtained  before  under- 
taking such  a  distant  service. 

Looking  at  the  subject  historically  it  is  seen  that 
it  was  through  this  its  Annual  Assembly  founded  on 
so  broad  a  basis,  that  the  Society  was  able  on  the 
cessation  of  Persecution  to  establish  uniformity  of 
practice  amongst  its  numerous  and  widely  spread  Con- 
gregations, amongst  which  were  many  independent 
spirits  who  little  wished  for  what  they  were  inclined  to 
regard  as  seeking  to  abridge  liberty  of  individtial 
conscience.  Such  ideas  firmly  held  and  strongly  ex- 
pressed, gradually  disappeared  before  the  wise  councils 
of  such  legislative  minds  as  George  Whitehead,  Robert 
Barclay,  Alexander  Parker,  Stephen  Crisp,  and  some 
others  who  became  prominent  at  this  critical  stage  in 
directing  the  Society's  affairs.  Through  their  influence 
the  Yearly  meeting  acquired  a  23Ciramount  influence  in 
the  councils  of  the  Society,  which  was  gained  not  through 
issuing  anything  by  way  of  command,  but  only  as 
of  exhortation,  "  brotherly  recommendation,  or  tender 
advice." 

The  Epistles  issued  year  by  year  from  these  General 
Assemblies  in  London  are  all  preserved  and  published 
from  the  beginning.  Those  of  the  earlier  period  will  be 
found  replete  with  counsel  for  maintaining  unity,  good 
order,  and  conduct  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  offered  in  so 
loving  and  wise  a  manner  as  to  make  it  the  easier  to  un- 
derstand how  under  these  arrangements,  the  Society  be- 


THE  FRIENDS, 


151 


came  as  a  whole  fitly  joined  and  compacted  together,  in 
which  service  the  Yearly  Meeting  has  had  so  large  a  share. 

If  such  were  possible  this  becomes  yet  more 
evident  in  connection  with  the  Society's  career  in  a 
succeeding  generation,  when  it  had  found  to  its  grief 
how  seriously  the  Friends  had  become  affected  by  the 
spirit  of  an  age  which  it  could  describe  in  no  milder 
terms  than  one  "  of  great  dissipation,  luxury,  and  pro- 
fanenees,  when  the  genuine  fruits  of  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  were  rarely  to  be  seen." 

The  Yearly  Meeting  appointed  committees  who 
spent  ?/ears  in  visiting  the  Society  throughout  the  nation. 
It  issued  exhortations  which  stirred  up  a  general  purg- 
ing of  the  camp  from  disorderly  walkers,whilst  those  who 
remained,  adopted  according  to  its  recommendations  a 
strictness  of  manner  and  life,  a  plainness  of  speech  and 
behaviour,  that  marked  them  out  as  a  peculiar  people, 
undoubtedly  desirous  of  being  found  zealous  also  in 
good  works, 

A  prominent  feature  associated  with  and  assisting 
in  this  Revival  was  the  printing  and  issue,  in  1783,  of 
"  Extracts  from  the  Minutes  and  Advices  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting,"  which  had  till  then  been  circulated  only  in 
manuscript,  and  v/ere  but  indifferently  preserved.  This 
work  became  the  acknowledged  guide  on  all  subjects 
relating  to  the  Society,  and  has  continued  ever  since  to 
hold  this  position.  It  has  been  revised  up  to  date 
through  five  successive  Editions  issued  at  intervals  of 
about  twenty  years  between  them,  the  last  being  as 
recent  as  1883. 


152 


THE  FRIENDS. 


The  -work  as  first  published  consisted  of  fifty-one 
chapters  treating  on  such  subjects  as  meetings  for  wor- 
ship and  discipline,  marriages,  education,  removals, 
settlements,  trade,  tithes,  reading  the  scriptures,  willB, 
arbitration,  conduct  and  conversation,  moderation  and 
temperance,  love  and  unity,  liberality  to  the  poor, 
counsel  to  the  young,  &c.,  &c. 

Another  feature  of  this  time  to  be  specially  noticed 
is  Avhat  are  called  "The  Queries,"  which  may  be  thus  ex- 
plained : — The  representatives  on  coming  to  the  annual 
assembly  had  from  the  first  been  expected  not  only  to 
bring  some  written  answers  as  to  matters  of  fact  as  to 
Bufferings,  number  of  prisoners,  death  of  ministers,  &c., 
but  also  to  report  ve7'hally  on  the  general  state  of  the 
Friends  in  the  localities  they  represented.  But  now  the 
Yearly  Meeting  asked  for  written  replies  to  a  series  of 
questions  of  a  comprehensive  nature  which  inquired 
whether  meetings  for  worship  and  discipline  were  kept 
up  and  in  a  proper  manner,  and  whether  love  and  unity 
were  being  preserved  ;  whether  families  were  careful  to 
train  up  children  for  a  good  life  and  conversation  and 
frequent  readings  of  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  did  Friends 
keep  clear  of  paying  priests'  demands,  and  are  they  avoid- 
ing vain  sports  or  any  intemperance  ;  was  their  trade 
being  conducted  on  sound  principles  ;  were  marriages 
made  the  subject  of  careful  regulation,  and  the  registries 
of  births  and  deaths  kept;  also  records  of  all  Meeting 
House  properties. 

These  subjects,  expressed  much  more  fully  and 
arranged  under  separate  headings,  being  yearly  replied  to 


THE  FRIENDS. 


153 


by  the  Monthly  meetings  to  the  Quarterly  and  these  in 
turn  to  the  annual  Assembly,  enabled  it  to  be 
kept  in  touch  with  the  whole  Society  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  could  review  its  condition  year  by  year,  and  thus 
issue  such  advice  or  recommendation  as  circumstances 
might  require,  either  by  special  minute  or  through  that 
Epistle  already  referred  to,  which  it  has  ever  been  its 
custom  to  address  annually  to  Friends  everywhere. 

In  this  re-constructive  work  of  the  close  of  the 
Eighteenth  century,  such  names  as  Tuke,  Fothergill, 
Stacey,  Birkbeck,  J.  G.  Bevan,  &c.,  &c.,  occur  amongst 
those  by  whose  wise  counsels  it  was  effected. 

Stern  disciplinarians  were  these,  and  yet  not  more 
than  the  Society  needed  to  secure  its  preservation  amid 
a  general  social  and  religious  laxity.  Its  vitality  has 
been  shown  in  a  safe  relinquishment  of  peculiarities 
it  was  in  danger  of  regarding  as  perpetual  Testimonies, 
and  the  world  of  associating  with  its  continuance.  In 
BO  doing  it  but  returns  to  its  originals,  for,  as  George 
Whitehead  told  King  Charles,  "We  affect  not  singularity 
in  Words  or  Behaviour,  but  desire  to  demean  ourselves 
in  that  plainness  and  simplicity  which  we  are  in  Coii- 
ecience  and  Truth  persuaded  unto." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


YEARLY  MEETING  PREMISES. 

XNDICATIVE  of  the  increased  importance  attached  to 
the  Yearly  Meeting  towards  the  close  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  is  the  necessity  that  arose  for  acquiring 
some  premises  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  greater 
number  of  country  Friends  that  desired  to  come  up  to  Lon- 
don for  its  attendance,  for  none  of  the  old  meeting  houses 
in  the  city  were  sufficiently  extensive  for  the  purpose. 
Accordingly  a  large  inn,  known  as  the  Dolphin,  ad- 
joining the  old  Meeting  Place  of  Devonshire  House, 
was  purchased,  and  on  its  site  two  spacious  and  lofty 
Halls  of  Assembly  erected,  each  capable  of  holding 
near  upon  a  thousand  persons,  with  committee-rooms 
adjoining.  One  of  these  Meeting  Houses  was  for  men, 
and  the  other  for  women  Friends,  so  that  each  had 
room  not  only  for  their  representatives,  but  also  for  any 
Friend  who  might  be  in  London  though  not  a  rep- 
resentative, to  attend  the  sittings,  which  arrangement 
worked  to  advantage,  not  only  through  promotinga  more 
general  interest  in  Society  affairs,  but  in  giving  yet 
more  importance  to  any  decision  or  advice  that  might 
be  issued  by  so  large  and  thoroughly  representative  an 
Assembly. 

The  mention  of  a  large  and  separate  House  for 


THE  FRIENDS. 


.155 


women  Friends  during  Yearly  Meeting,  needs  the  ex- 
planation that  it  had  not  been  customary  up  to  this 
time  for  them  to  have  any  Yearly  Meeting  of  their  own 
for  Discipline,  though  they  used  to  unite  in  those  held 
for  worship  in  the  various  meeting  houses  of  the 
Metropolis  whilst  the  Assembly  was  in  session.  But 
in  this  work  of  Reformation  they  took  so  great  an 
interest,  and  felt  there  were  so  many  matters  concerning 
themselves  needing  attention,  as  to  make  them  desire  a 
place  large  enough  for  assembling  in  council  together.  To 
gain  assent  for  which,  they  approached  the  men's 
Yearly  Meeting  by  a  deputation  of  their  own  to  lay  this 
subject  before  them.  It  is  said  that  J.  G.  Bevan,  then 
acting  as  clerk  to  the  men  Friends,  himself  remarkable 
amongst  them  in  bodily  and  mental  endowments,  no 
sooner  saw  the  graceful  yet  dignified  figure  of  Esther 
Tuke,  advancing  towards  him  at  the  head  of  this 
deputation,  than  he  felt  inclined  to  address  her  in  the 
words  of  King  Ahasuerus,  "What  is  thy  petition  Queen 
Esther  ?  and  it  shall  be  granted  thee  ;  and  what  is  thy 
request  ?  and  it  shall  be  performed."  Needless  to  say, 
no  difficulty  occurred  in  granting  this  of  hers,  made  on 
behalf  of  her  sister  Friends,  and  in  these  extensive 
building  operations  on  the  old  Dolphin  Inn  was  a  large 
meeting  place  provided  also  for  them.  It  is  an  arrange- 
ment that  has  ever  since  worked  to  mutual  satisfaction, 
for  whilst  uniting  with  their  brethren  in  worship,  they 
are  able  to  attend  on  their  part  to  the  general  state  or 
women  Friends  all  over  the  country,  without  infringing 
on  the  legislative  character  of  the  men's  Yearly  Meeting. 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


Richly  endowed  were  many  women  Friends  of 
those  days,  in  spiritual  and  mental  gifts,  true  Mothers 
of  Israel  ruling  not  only  their  own  houses  well,  but 
society  affairs  also.  Some  of  them  were  regarded  as 
prophetesses  in  their  copious  and  powerful  ministry/so 
much  so  that  men  of  mark  in  the  community  have 
owned  to  its  having  had  great  influence  on  their  re- 
ligious convictions  amid  a  careless  age,  and  inducing 
in  them  a  strong  attachment  to  the  principles  of 
Friends. 

When  Thomas  Wilkinson,  a  Lake  poet,  and  friend 
of  Wordsworth,  returned  from  his  300  miles  walk  to 
London,  his  verse  that  recounts  his  City  experiences, 
dwells  on  the  virtues  of  the  women  Friends  he  met 
with  at  London  Yearly  Meeting. 

Saw  Sterry's  zeal  her  Christian  life  adorn, 

Saw  female  piety  preside  in  Horn, 

Heard  her  sweet  voice  inspiring  counsel  bear, 

And  fraught  with  love  her  drooping  brethren  cheer — 

Kaw  gentle  Gurney  with  a  sweet  address 

Allure  her  friends  to  heaven  and  happiness, 

Saw  Fowler  s  gift  with  love  divine  abound, 

Her  precepts  life,  her  voice  a  heavenly  sound, 

Saw  Abbott  to  her  old  friends  ever  dear, 

In  life  correct,  in  testimony  clear, 

Saw  powerful  Grubb  that  sounds  her  Master's  praise 

In  streets,  in  markets,  prisons  and  highways. 

What  the  Society  owes  to  its  saintly  practical 
women  Friends,  from  Margaret  Fell  to  the  present  days 
can  never  be  over-estimated,  nor  iu  any  tribute  to  their 
worth  must  the  share  that  these  Society  arrangements 
have  had  in  training  such  characters  for  their  field  of 


THE  FRIENDS. 


157 


service  be  forgotten.  In  the  discipline  of  these  meet- 
ings, minds  have  been  educated  from  early  years  for 
their  excellent  conduct  of  affairs,  which  an  Elizabeth 
Fry  may  have  exhibited  in  a  manner  specially  observable 
to  the  public  ;  but  it  is  one  which  any  Women's  Yearly 
Meeting  shows  as  a  general  characteristic  of  her  sister 
Friends,  when  gathered  in  council  together ;  grave,  wise, 
I'xecutive,  guiding  important  affairs  with  discretion; 
self-contained,  and  firm  in  opinion  and  expression, 
without  forwardness  or  the  slightest  infringement  of 
leminine  delicacy.  "Where  indeed,  it  may  well  be 
.;sked,  could  another  group  of  mothers  be  found,  so 
many  of  whose  children,  whether  by  natural  birth  or 
spiritual  influence,  can  rise  up  and  call  them  blessed  ? 

Friends  begin  the  training  in  this  service  early,  as 
it  is  the  practice  to  associate  some  of  the  well  disposed 
amongst  the  younger  members  with  those  of  maturer 
age  when  nominating  Representatives  .to  attend  meet- 
ings for  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  church — whether 
Monthly,  Quarterly,  or  even  the  Yearly  Gathering ;  an 
instance  of  which  latter  may  be  quoted  from  the  clever 
authoress  of  "  The  Richardsons  of  Cleveland  "  as  having 
occurred  to  one  of  her  heroines  when  about  eighteen. 
"  While  different  names  (for  Representatives)  were 
being  thus  mentioned  in  a  Durham  Quarterly  Meeting, 
a  Friend,  of  Newcastle,  whose  powerful  intellect  and 
strength  of  will  gave  her  great  influence  in  the  meeting, 
pointed  to  Isabel  Richardson  and  said,  '  I  do  not  know 
the  name  of  that  young  Friend,  but  I  should  wish  her 
to  be  one  of  our  representatives  to  the  Yearly  Meeting.' 


158 


THE  FRIENDS. 


The  timid  girl  sat  in  speechless  terror,  equally  unable 
to  raise  her  voice  in  refusal,  or  to  endure  the  thought 
of  what  was  involved  by  acceptance.  No  sound  came 
from  her  lips.  The  Friend  who  acted  as  Clerk  to  the 
Meeting,  and  who  knew  her  name  (though  the  New- 
castle lady  did  not)  wrote  it  down  !  and  Isabel  went, 
as  the  narrative  proceeds  to  tell,  to  London  Yearly 
Meeting  as  one  of  its  Representatives  ;  and  to  the  end 
of  her  days,  after  a  life  of  great  journeyings,  even  as 
far  as  America,  in  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  she  loved 
to  tell  of  the  spiritual  benefit  received  from  this  "  her 
first  Yearly  Meeting,  the  attendance  of  which  she  had 
anticipated  with  so  much  fear." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE  AND  COUNSEL  ISSUED 
BY  THE  YEARLY  MEETING. 

TN  an  historical  review  of  this  kind  little  opportunity 
occurs  for  any  development  of  the  special  and 
distinctive  views  taken  by  the  Society  on  Christian 
Doctrine,  which  to  be  understood  in  their  proper  relation 
to  those  of  other  Christian  communities  must  be  learnt 
from  works  especially  devoted  to  these  subjects,  of 
which  any  Friend's  library  will  be  found  to  contain 
ample  store.  Even  here  a  glance  may  be  taken  at  them 
through  a  few  extracts  from  the  last  edition  of  the 
work  on  "  Christian  Discipline  "  referred  to  in  a 
former  chapter. 

From  the  general  epistles  of  1830, 1861,  and  1868,  has 
been  framed  this  statement,  that  "  We  as  a  Christian 
Church  accept  the  immediate  operations  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  upon  the  heart  in  their  inseparable  connection 
with  our  risen  and  exalted  Saviour.  We  disavow  all 
professed  spirituality  that  is  divorced  from  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  crucified  for  us  without  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem.  One  with  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
the  Holy  Spirit  works  for  the  regeneration  of  fallen 
rebellious  man.  Not  merely  as  the  Enlightener  of  the 
conscience  and  the  Reprover  for  sin,  is  the  Spirit  merci- 
fully granted,  but  also,  in  an  especial  manner,  to  testify 


160 


THE  FRIENDS. 


of  and  to  glorify  the  Saviour,  to  apply,  witli  sanctifying 
efficacy  to  the  soul,  His  words  and  work  when  upon 
earth,  and  His  mediation  and  intercession  for  us  in 
heaven.  .  To  be  guided  by  the  Spirit  is  the 
practical  application  of  the  Christian  religion." 

AS  the  mode  of  worship  adopted  by  Friends  is 
peculiar  to  them,  a  few  sentences  may  be  offered  on 
their  views  of  this  religious  engagement,  taken  from 
an  epistle  of  1866.  "  The  worship  of  God  imder  the 
Gospel  consists  not  in  ceremonies,  or  in  external 
observances.  It  is  a  simple,  sjnritical  service.  That 
which  was  represented  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  law  was 
fulfilled  and  ended  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in 
the  exercise  of  faith  in  Him  the  reality  is  now  to  be  en- 
joyed. .  .  No  worship  ought  now  to  be  made  depen- 
dent upon  the  presence  of  any  one  man  or  order  of 
men  ;  no  service  or  stated  vocal  utterance  in  the  con- 
gregation ought  to  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the 
operation  of  the  Lord's  free  Spirit.  We  thankfully 
recognize,  as  a  means  of  edification,  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel,  and  offerings  of  public  prayer  or  thanks- 
giving, under  the  renewed  anointing  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
but  we  dare  not  make  these  dependent  upon  human 
arrangements,  or  exclude,  by  any  such  arrangements 
the  silent  and  unseen,  but  not  unfelt  ministrations  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  "  dividing  to  every  man  severally 
as  He  wills  " 

Herein  may  be  seen,  by  those  open  to  perceive 
it,  that  Friends,  when  come  together  for  worship,  sit 
down   in   silence   through  belief  in  an  efficacy  at- 


THE  PRIE^D!^. 


161 


tendant  on  sucL.  reverent  waitings  upon  the  Lord  of  all 
Spirits,  and  any  vocal  utterances  ensuing  are  received 
as  His  fresh  anointing  to  the  service.  "  We  recognise 
the  value  of  silence  not  as  an  end,  but  as  the  means  to- 
wards the  attainment  of  an  end  ;  a  silence  not  of 
listlessness,  or  of  vacant  musing,  but  of  holy  expectation 
before  the  Lord." 

In  like  manner  some  may  find  it  not  difficult  to 
understand  why,  as  there  is  no  outward  priest  or 
officiating  minister,  it  is  not  thought  needful  to  intro- 
duce any  material  element  for  a  due  remembrance 
of  the  Lord's  death  for  us,  or  for  the  waiting  soul 
to  partake  of  true  communion  with  Him. 

Onthesubjectof  ministry  may  be  quoted  the  follow- 
ing passage  under  date  of  1841 : — "  It  is  the  prerogative  of 
Christ  to  call  and  qualify  by  the  Holy  Spirit  his  servants 
to  minister  in  word  and  doctrine.  .  .  The  servants 
of  Christ  who  labour  in  the  ministry  are  to  be  highly 
esteemed  for  their  work's  sake  ;  and  when  at  His  call 
they  leave  their  outward  avocations  to  preach  the  gospel, 
their  outward  wants  should  be  cheerfully  supplied. 
Yet  we  consider  the  gifts  of  the  ministry  to  be  of  so 
pure  and  sacred  a  nature,  that  no  payment  should  be 
made  for  its  exercise,  and  that  it  ought  never  to  be 
undertaken  for  pecuniary  remuneration.  .  .  We 
believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
to  be  diligent  in  the  fear  of  God  in  reading  the  Holy 
Scripture  ;  neither  do  we  undervalue  human  learning, 
but  to  subject  any  to  a  course  of  teaching  as  a  necessary 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  is  in  our  apprehension,  to 


162 


THE  FRIENDS. 


interfere  with  that  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  our 
Lord  carries  forward  in  the  hearts  of  those  whom  He 
calls  to  preacii  His  gospel  unto  others." 

Further  to  quote  from  these  paragraphs  relative 
to  ministers  and  Ministry,  "We  thankfully  believe 
that  from  the  early  rise  of  our  Society,  the  Lord  has 
been  pleased  to  bestow  this  gift  upon  servants  and 
upon  handmaidens  without  respect  of  persons,  and 
that  it  has  been  exercised  in  His  fear  and  to  the  honour 
of  His  name  ;  and  we  pray  that  He  may  be  pleased  to 
grant  us  its  continuance  and  increase,  and  to  keep  us 
from  ever  desiring  any  other." 

Amidst  much  valuable  advice  on  faithfulness  in  life's 
stewardship,  is  this  of  1865: — "Let  none  so  overcharge 
themselves  with  business,  pleasure  or  other  pursuits, 
or  so  give  way  to  the  love  of  ease,  as  in  any  degree 
to  obstruct  the  exercise  of  their  gifts  or  hinder  their 
right  service.  .  .  How  influential  is  the  example 
of  the  Christian  in  the  midst  of  his  outward 
affairs.  .  .  If  things  are  in  their  right  places,  ber  t 
things  will  be  uppermost,  and  joy  in  the  Lord's  work 
on  earth  will  be  increasingly  known  as  a  foretaste  of 
his  perfected  service  in  heaven." 

Here  is  an  extract  among  many  on  love  and 
unity  in  the  Church,  taken  from  an  Epistle  of  1857: — 
"  How  precious  is  the  unity  which  is  known  among 
brethren  who  are  made  one  in  Christ. — Their  characters, 
their  position,  their  gifts,  their  services  may  greatly 
differ,  but  their  hearts  are  one.  They  have  one 
Father,  who  is  in  heaven  ;  they  serve  one  Master,  even 


THE  FRIENDS. 


163 


Christ ;  and  amidst  all  the  diversities  of  gifts  and 
administrations  it  is  the  same  Spirit  that  worketh  all 
in  all,  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  will." 

Much  of  counsel  is — in  this  valuable  collection — 
extended  to  parents,  but  space  will  only  permit  these  few 
words  of  affectionate  appeal  under  dates  1866,  &c. : — 
"Christian  fathers  and  mothers  honour  the  Lord  in 
your  families.  Let  your  lives  be  a  daily  confession  of 
Christ  in  your  households.  In  connection  with  the 
family  reading  of  the  scriptures,  and  the  accompanying 
devotional  silence,  which  we  trust  will  ever  be  felt  to 
be  precious,  quench  not  the  gentle  drawings  of  Divine 
love,  prompting  the  word  of  exhortation  or  instruction, 
or  the  outpouring  of  the  heart  in  prayer.  Pray  with, 
as  well  as  for  your  children,  watching  for  opportunities 
of  uniting  with  them  individually  in  the  exercise  of 
this  blessed  privilege.  .  .  They  partake  with  you 
of  a  fallen  nature  ;  and  it  is  your  sacred  duty  to  strive, 
through  divine  help,  to  lead  them  to  Him  in  whom  is 
plenteous  redemption." 

Then  in  training  of  families  in  this  wise 
counsel,  that  "  whilst  providing  liberal  instruc- 
tion for  your  children  you  may  never  be  drawn 
aside  by  the  desire  for  fashionable  or  merely  orna- 
mental accomplishments,  from  a  course  of  training 
and  education  conducive  to  a  useful  and  honourable 
life  upon  earth,  and  in  harmony  with  the  discipline 
that  renders  meet  for  heaven." 

On  the  subject  of  simplicity  and  moderation — 
"It  is  our  tender  and  Christian  advice  that  Friends 


164 


THE  FRIENDS. 


take  care  to  keep  to  truth  and  plainnesB,  in 
language,  habit,  deportment,  and  behaviour  ;  that 
the  simplicity  of  truth  in  these  things  may  not 
wear  out  or  be  lost  in  our  days,  nor  in  those  of 
our  posterity  ;  and  to  avoid  pride  and  immodesty  in 
apparel,  and  all  vain  and  superfluous  fashions  of  the 
■world,"  In  1691  and  again  in  1868,  "  Words  fail  to  con- 
vey our  sense  of  the  importance  of  realising  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  its  sanctifying  power, 
upon  the  habits,  the  affections,  and  even  the  tastes. 
We  plead  for  no  mere  outward  imitation  of  that  which 
is  good,  but  rather  for  that  conformity  to  Christ  which 
springs  from  the  renewal  of  the  mind." 

In  a  chapter  devoted  to  enforcing  uprightness  and 
integrity  much  sound  counsel  is  offered  as  to  the  con- 
duct of  business  and  trade,  referring  also  as  expressed 
in  the  following  extracts  to  overtrading  and  watchful- 
ness that  a  right  time  may  be  known  for  withdrawal 
from  business.  "  We  would  bid  all  beware  of 
that  spirit  which  '  hasteth  to  be  rich,'  and  which  so 
often  leads  those  who  give  way  to  it,  to  trade  beyond 
their  ability,  to  the  great  hurt  of  themselves  and  their 
families,  and  to  the  grievous  injury  of  others.  .  . 
Be  upon  the  watch  to  know  the  right  time  for  retiring 
from  business.  In  these,  and  in  all  other  things,  seek, 
both  for  yourselves  and  for  your  children,  to  be 
limited  by  the  will  of  God.— 1872. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  by  a  Series  of 
Queries  answered  in  writing  from  Monthly  Meetings  to 
those  held  Quarterly,  such  were  helped  to  see  whether 


THE  FRIENDS. 


165 


the  varions  congregations  were  in  good  order  and 
living  up  to  the  spirit  of  this  Christian  counsel,  and  as 
these  eighteen  Quarterly  gatherings  themselves  render 
answers  to  the  Annual  Assembly  it  is  enabled  yearly 
to  review  the  State  of  the  Society,  and  frame  its 
advice  in  a  General  Epistle  accordingly.  It  is  also  a 
practice  of  Friends  once  a  year  to  read,  at  the  close  of 
a  Sabbath  morning  meeting,  a  Series  of  Advices  so 
excellent  that  even  the  pressure  on  our  space  may  not 
excuse  their  being  quoted  in  the  brevity  of  their 
fulness  : — 

Take  heed,  dear  Friends,  we  entreat  you,  to  the 
convictions  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  leads,  through 
unfeigned  repentance,  and  living  faith  in  the  Son  of 
God,  to  reconciliation  with  our  Heavenly  Father  ;  and 
to  the  blessed  hope  of  eternal  life,  purchased  for  us  by 
the  one  ofEering  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesns 
Christ. 

Be  earnestly  concerned  in  religious  meetings 
reverently  to  present  yourselves  before  the  Lord  ;  and 
seek  by  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  worship  God 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

Prize  the  privilege  of  access  by  Him  unto  the 
Father.  Continue  instant  in  prayer,  and  watch  in  the 
same  with  thanksgiving. 

Be  in  the  frequent  practice  of  waiting  upon  the 
Lord  in  private  retirement ;  honestly  examining  your- 
Belves  as  to  your  growth  in  grace,  and  your  preparation 
for  the  life  to  come. 

Be  diligent  in  the  private  perusal  of  the  Holy 


166 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Scriptures  ;  and  let  the  daily  reading  of  them  in  your 
families  be  devoutly  conducted. 

Be  careful  to  make  a  profitable  and  religious  use 
of  those  portions  of  time  on  the  first  day  of  the  week 
which  are  not  occupied  by  our  Meetings  for  "Worship. 

Live  in  love  as  Christian  brethren,  ready  to  be 
helpful  one  to  another,  and  sympathising  with  each 
other  in  the  trials  and  afflictions  of  life.  Watch  over 
one  another  for  good,  manifesting  an  earnest  desire 
that  each  may  possess  a  well  grounded  hope  in  Christ. 

Follow  peace  with  all  men,  desiring  the  true 
happiness  of  all  ;  be  kind  and  liberal  to  the  poor,  and 
endeavour  to  promote  the  temporal,  moral  and  religious 
well-being  of  your  fellow  men. 

With  a  tender  conscience  in  accordance  with  the 
precepts  of  the  Gospel,  take  heed  to  the  limitations  of 
the  Spirit  of  Truth  in  the  pursuit  of  the  things  of  this 
life. 

Maintain  strict  integrity  in  your  transactions  in  trade 
and  in  all  your  outward  concerns.  Guard  against  the 
spirit  of  speculation,  and  the  snare  of  accumulating 
wealth.  Remember  that  we  must  account  for  the  mode 
of  acquiring,  as  well  as  for  the  manner  of  using,  and 
finally  disposing  of  our  possessions.  Observe  simplicity 
and  moderation  in  your  deportment  and  attire,  in  the 
furniture  of  your  houses,  and  in  your  style  and  manner 
of  living.  Carefully  maintain  in  your  own  conduct, 
and  encourage  in  your  families,  truthfulness  and 
sincerity  ;  and  avoid  worldliness  in  all  its  forms. 

Guard  watchfully  against  the  introduction  into  your 


THE  FRIENDS. 


167 


households  of  publications  of  a  hurtful  tendency  ;  and 
against  such  companionships,  indulgences  and  recrea- 
tions, whether  for  yourselves  or  your  children,  as  may 
in  any  wise  interfere  with  a  growth  in  grace. 

Let  the  poor  of  this  world  remember  that  it  is  our 
Heavenly  Father's  will  that  all  His  children  should  be 
rich  in  faith.  Let  your  lights  shine  in  lives  of  honest 
industry  and  patient  love.  Do  your  utmost  to  maintain 
yourselves  and  your  families  in  an  honorable  indepen- 
dence, and,  by  prudent  care  in  time  of  health,  to  pro- 
vide for  sickness  and  old  age,  holding  fast  to  the 
promise  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee." 

"Whatever  be  your  position  in  life,  avoid  such  sports 
and  places  of  diversion  as  are  frivolous  or  demoralising  ; 
all  kinds  of  gaming  ;  the  needless  frequenting  of 
taverns  and  other  public-houses,  and  the  unnecessary 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

Tn  contemplating  the  engagement  of  marriage, 
look  principally  to  that  which  will  help  you  on  your 
heavenward  journey  ?  pay  filial  recard  to  the  judgment 
of  your  parents  ;  bear  in  mind  the  vast  importance,  in 
Buch  a  union,  of  an  accordance  in  religious  principles 
and  practice  ;  ask  counsel  of  God,  desiring  above  all 
temporal  considerations,  that  your  union  may  be  owned 
and  blessed  of  Him. 

Watch  with  Christian  tenderness  over  the  opening 
minds  of  your  children  ;  inure  them  to  habits  of  self- 
restraint  and  filial  obedience  ;  carefully  instruct  them 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  seek  for 
ability  to  imbue  their  hearts  with  the  love  of  their 


168 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Heavenly  Father,  their  Redeemer,  and  their  Sanctifier. 

Finally,  dear  friends,  let  your  whole  conduct  and 
conversation  be  such  as  becomes  the  Gospel ;  exercise 
yourselves  to  have  always  a  conscience  void  of  offence 
toward  God  and  toward  men  ;  be  steadfast  and  faithful 
in  your  allegiance  and  service  to  your  Lord  ;  continue 
in  His  love  ;  endeavouring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 

These  "  General  Advices  "  ai'e  as  they  now  stand 
in  the  last  revision  of  them  made  in  1883.  There  have 
been  various  previous  revisions,  as  many  as  six.  indeed, 
since  their  adoption  in  1791. 


7 


LINDLEV  MURRAY 


•JIIAPTER  XX. 


EDUCATION. 


RE  the  necessities  of  the  poor  amongst  you  properly 


inspected  and  relieved  ?  and  is  due  care  taken 
of  t/ie  EDUCATION  of  their  offspring  ?  This  Query  (re- 
marked a  leading  Friend)  is  the  one  answered  annually 
without  an  exception  ;  but  before  the  way  is  described 
by  which  the  latter  part  of  it  came  to  be  so  fully 
answered,  a  few  observations  may  be  made  on  the 
general  subject  of  Education  in  the  Society. 

For  their  youth  of  both  sexes  to  have  a  sound 
English  education  was  from  the  first  a  desired  object 
in  Friends'  families,  which  it  was  the  easier  to  secure 
from  the  circumstance  that  several  of  the  earliest 
adherents  to  the  Society  had  previously  been  school- 
masters, and  there  has  never  been  wanting  a  succession 
of  those  qualified  to  conduct  educational  establishments. 
Besides  many  of  a  private  character,  some  have  been 
undertaken  under  the  care  of  committees  of  the 
Quarterly  Meetings,  and  a  high  class  standard  of  in- 
struction is  given  in  some  of  these. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  some  of  the  earliest 
of  these  establishments  for  girls  were  commenced  and 
conducted  by  women  Friends,  so  earnest  for  securing 
education  and  right  training  as  to  give  their  services 
gratuitously,  thus  reducing  the  cost  of  the  establish- 


170 


THE  FRIENDS. 


ment  to  that  of  maintenance  only.  At  one  of  these 
commenced  in  York  by  the  daughters  of  William  Tuke, 
the  attempts  of  these  volunteers  to  teach  English  system- 
atically led  to  the  production  of  the  well  known  Lindley 
Murray's  Grammar. 

This  Friend  was  a  retired  American  merchant, 
living  in  the  outskirts  of  York  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  and  became  so  greatly  interested  in  this  object 
as  to  encourage  the  visits  of  these  earnest  minded 
teachers  to  him,  with  whom  he  would  hold  long  con- 
ferences in  explanation  of  the  structure  of  the  English 
language  ;  such  were  so  often  prolonged  to  a  late  hour 
that  their  father's  servant  would  be  seen,  lantern  in 
hand,  guiding  them  homeward  across  the  fields.  A 
natural  desire  on  their  part  that  such  valuable  matter 
should  have  wider  influence  in  a  more  permanent  form, 
induced  their  kind  councillor  to  commit  his  grammatical 
teachings  to  writing,  and  if  any  proof  were  needed  of 
the  service  it  has  had  in  English  education,  it  would  be 
shewn  by  the  two  hundred  separate  edititions  of  this 
grammar,  which  have  been  called  for  by  the  public 
since  its  first  appearance  in  1795. 

Several  other  works  of  Lindley  Murray's  followed 
with  the  same  educational  object,  chiefly  in  reading 
lessons. 

In  reference  to  the  important  duty  of  assisting 
parents  whose  circumstances  did  not  permit  their 
children  to  share  these  advantages,  much  care  has  been 
extended  by  the  Society,  by  an  early  establishment  of 
schools  for  this  class  of  children,  in  the  neighbour- 


L>R.  JOHN  FOTHEROILL 


THE  FRIENDS. 


171 


hoods  of  London,  Bristol,  Leeds,  and  some  other 
places.  But  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  its  watchfulness, 
lest  all  of  this  class  were  not  being  thus  reached,  added 
in  1737  to  its  list  of  general  enquiries,  a  request  to  be 
iaformed  of  what  was  being  done  towards  the  educa- 
tion of  such  children  ;  from  which  such  prevalent 
deficiencies  became  apparent  as  to  awaken  its  desiru 
for  some  Institution  of  its  own  of  more  general  educa- 
tional use  for  the  offspring  of  those  who  were  not  in 
aflBuent  circumstances,  that  these  might  have  the  same 
kind  of  benefits  which  parents  who  could  afford  it, 
obtained  for  their  children  at  the  private  or  other 
schools  of  the  Society. 

Amongst  those  earnestly  solicitous  for  a  solution 
of  this  question  was  Dr.  John  Fothergill,  a  member  of 
a  family  largely  instrumental  in  the  zealous  reformation 
of  the  Society,  and  himself  become  eminent  as  one  of 
the  leading  physicians  of  the  day  and  a  generous  prc^ 
moter  of  scientific  and  philanthropic  objects.  Truly 
was  he  one  in  whom  talent,  generosity,  and  high 
principle  met  in  close  combination.  "  My  onlj'  wish," 
he  said,  "  in  entering  on  the  medical  profession  was 
to  do  what  little  might  fall  to  my  share  as  well  as 
possible,  and  to  banish  all  thoughts  of  practising 
physic  as  a  money-getting  trade  with  the  same 
solicitude  as  I  would  the  suggestions  of  vice  and  in- 
temperance." As  a  native  of  Westmorland  he  Avae 
accustomed  (in  later  life)  to  retire  thitherward  for  his 
innual  recess,  and  on  one  of  these  journeys  heard  there 
was  at  Ackworth,  near  Pontefract,  an  estate  with  some 


172 


THE  FRIENDS. 


large  premises  for  sale  that  liad  been  erected  at  great 
cost  by  the  managers  of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  and 
vacated  by  them  when  the  system  changed  from  keep- 
ing the  children  at  work  on  the  premises,  to  apprenticing 
them  out  to  learn  trades.  It  had  been  vacant  so  many 
years  that  the  foxes  had  made  themselves  holes  in  its 
floors,  and  the  trustees  were  found  willing  to  sell  for 
£7,000  what  had  cost  them  £17,000. 

The  good  Doctor  consulted  with  one  or  two  of 
his  intimate  friends,  who  agreeing  with  him  in  its 
adaptability  for  such  an  Educational  Establishment  aa 
the  Society  needed,  they  made  the  purchase  them- 
selves, and  offered  it  to  the  next  Yearly  Meeting 
on  the  same  terms,  which  being  cordially  accepted,  the 
needed  money  was  raised  among  Friends  generally, 
amongst  whom  the  worthy  Doctor  ranks  as  one  of  the 
liberal  contributors.  His  memory  will  thus  ever  be 
associated  with  the  origin  of  an  institution  that  has 
proved  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  Society  throughout 
many  generations.  "  It  gives  (said  an  Ex-mayor  of 
I'ork  lately)  an  education  far  in  advance  of  that 
enjoyed  by  horjs  of  the  same  rank  in  life,  .  .  and  as 
to  girls,  a  far  more  thorough  and  character-strengthen- 
ing education  than  was  common  in  the  Community  at 
large." 

Ten  thousand  children  have  there  received  moral 
training  and  education  since  its  establishment  iu  1779, 
and  throu.rrh  its  influence  exerted  on  similar  establish- 
ments, it  has  come  to  pass  that  year  by  year  all  meet- 
ingri  throughout  the  Society  make  no  exception  in 


THE  FillENDS. 


173 


reporting  "  that  the  necessities  of  the  Poor  amongst  us 
jire  properly  inspected  and  relieved,  and  good  care  is 
laken  of  the  education  of  their  offspring P 

Wise  men  have  directed  its  course,  and  prevented 
jny  pauperising  results.  Children  of  those  parents 
who  can  pay  either  full  or  partial  cost  associate  on 
equal  terms  with  those  whose  education  is  beinij: 
defrayed  by  their  friends,  and  the  fees  from  those 
whose  parents  are  able  to  afford  the  higher  scale  of 
payments  help  to  diminish  the  cost  of  the  institution 
over  its  income. 

Ackworth  School  has  now  become  a  noble  range 
of  buildings,  accommodating  150  Boys  and  150  Girls, 
with  Superintendent's  Apartments,  Committee  Room, 
and  spacious  Meeting  House.  Large  sums  have  from 
time  to  time  been  expended  in  perfecting  these 
accommodations,  with  Gas  Works  and  Steam  Laundry, 
Baths  and  Swimming  Bath,  obtained  as  gifts  from  :i 
succession  of  generous  and  wealthy  patrons,  who  have 
loved  to  assist  in  keeping  the  institution  John  Fothergill 
initiated,  up  to  the  mark  in  sanitary,  residential,  ami 
educational  buildings  and  arrangements. 

"Happy  estate  (wrote  William  Howitt,  one  of  its 
many  scholars  who  have  attained  distinction),  may  the 
after  intercourse  of  the  world  never  be  able  to  eradicate 
the  effects  of  this  little  golden  age  from  the  hearts  of 
those  who  have  enjoyed  it."  And  J.  G.  Fitch,  who  at 
Government  Education  Inspector,  visited  the  Establish- 
ment, concludes  his  report  of  1866  :  "  I  cannot 
sufficiently   express   my   admiration   of   the  order 


174 


THE  FRIENDS. 


seriousness,  and  repose  of  this  great  Institution  ;  nor 
my  sense  of  the  advantages  which  the  pupils  enjoy  in 
the  watchful  supervision  of  the  Society  to  which  they 
belong." 

Whilst  Ackworth  continues  to  be  the  only  school 
under  the  care  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  it  far  from  absorbs 
all  children  of  the  class  intended  within  its  walls.  The 
example  it  sets  has  served  as  stimulus  for  Friends  to 
establish  at  various  times  similar  establishments  in 
other  districts.  Thus  have  the  home  counties  one  {i  t 
Saffron  Walden  (1811),  the  western  at  Sidcot  (1808), 
the  northern  at  Wigton  (1815),  Rawden  (1832),  Penketh 
(,1834),  Ayton  (1841),  the  midlands  at  Sibford  (1842)  ; 
each  of  these  having  some  special  characteristic  observ- 
able in  their  foundation  and  management.  Ireland 
also  has  four  :  Waterford,  Mountmellick,  Lisburn,  and 
IJrookfield.  In  all,  including  Ackworth,  1,187  children 
are  thus  being  provided  with  excellent  moral  training, 
and  an  education  sound  and  serviceable  for  entrance 
into  industrial  or  commercial  life.  713  of  these  aro 
boys,  and  474  gii'ls,  and  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the 
cost  of  maintenance  and  education  at  these  12  establish- 
ments averages  jQSl  6s.  9d.  per  head,  of  which  ;Q2S 
lis.  Od.  is  from  parents'  payments,  £4  16s.  lOd.  from 
'nvestmenis,  and  jQ2  12s.  6d.  from  annual  subscriptions. 
It  should  also  bo  mentioned  that  there  is  a  valuable 
mstitution  for  the  training  of  teachers  located  in  some 
line  premises  at  Ackwortli,  and  known  from  the  name 
of  its  founder  as  "Tlio  Flounders  Institute." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

DISRUPTION  AND  SECESSION. 

TTAVING  in  the  course  of  this  history  traced  the 
■^-^  Society's  survival  uhrough  forty  years  of  persecii- 
tion,  its  spread  in  the  Western  World,  its  successful 
efforts  at  self-reformation  during  a  lax  and  unbelieving 
age,  and  its  educational  institutions,  it  is  but  right  to 
notice  some  serious  controversies  that  have  arisen  at 
various  times  and  caused  secessions,  both  in  England 
and  America. 

The  first  of  these — amongst  English  Friends — 
occurred  during  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution, 
when  England  rose  to  arms  in  preparations  to  resist 
ihe  invasion  with  which  it  was  threatened  by  Napoleon. 
Sentiments  of  patriotism  or  feelings  of  necessity  for 
self-defence  caused  large  numbers — especially  of  the 
wealthier  members — to  relinquish  that  conscientious 
objection  felt  by  Friends  against  all  war,  which  pre- 
vented their  sharing  in  these  preparations.  Such,  in 
consequence,  either  withdrew  from  further  member- 
ship or  were  disowned  by  a  community  that  pre- 
ferred to  suffer  loss  rather  than  relax  its  testimony 
against  bearing  arms,  or  joining  by  subscription  or 
personal  service  in  any  volunteer  force,  or  being  in 
any  manner  concerned  with  the  Militia,  It  was-  a 
secession  that  materially  lessened  the  social  position 


17G 


THE  FRIENDS. 


aud  influence  of  a  Society,  that  had  until  this  numbered 
amongst  its  members  a  large  portion  of  the  leading 
bankers,  merchants,  and  ship-owners,  both  in  London 
aud  the  chief  towns  and  seaports  of  the  country,  but 
it  strengthened  those  who  remained  in  a  desire  yet 
firmer,  to  maintain  their  principles  of  peace  as  opposed 
to  all  war,  even  of  a  defensive  nature. 

About  the  same  time  there  occurred  amongst 
American  Friends  a  yet  sadder  and  wider  separation, 
bince  it  concerned  the  fundamental  truths  of  our  Lord's 
Divinity  and  mediatorial  office,  which  an  Elias  Hicks 
(like  Arius  of  old)  called  into  question,  and  having 
drawn  great  numbers  of  Friends  to  his  views,  caused 
what  is  known  as  the  Hicksite  secession.  That,  in 
many  of  the  American  meetings,  lost  them  half  their 
uaeinbership. 

As  both  sides  in  this  sad  and  bitter  contention  pro- 
fessed to  be  true  followers  of  the  early  Friends,  and  each 
quoted  from  their  writings  in  support  of  such  claims, 
it  needs  a  recurrence  to  the  circumstances  under  which 
these  works  were  written,  to  understand  how  Evangeli- 
cals and  Unitarians  could  alike  draw  from  the  same 
source  such  widely  differing  conclusions.  Some,  no 
doubt,  of  these  ancient  controversial  writings  might 
be  taken  as  favouring  Unitarian  principles,  if  it  were 
forgotten  that  these  sublime  mysteries  of  the  Christian 
faith  were  not  the  subject  in  hand.  They  were 
written  against  an  exaltation  of  the  letter  of  Scripture, 
over  the  Spirit  that  inspired  it,  or  to  controvert  the 
Calvinist  in  his  extreme  views  on  Divine  Election  and 


THE  FRIENDS. 


177 


Reprobation,  or  else  to  draw  men  oflp  from  that  exclusiivo 
dwelling  on  our  Lord's  outward  work  and  sacrifice  for 
men,  which  took  not  into  account  the  necessity  of  o!iv 
becoming  ourselves  the  subject  of  his  inward  and 
spiritual  work  in  the  heart. 

But  whenever  challenged  for  appearing  to  neglect 
or  deny  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Gospel,  they  ex- 
plained themselves  as  not  having  felt  it  necessary,  in 
these  controversial  writings,  to  dwell  on  what  all 
Christians  alike  believed.  They  sought  to  enforce  what 
they  thought  was  not  being  sufficiently  recogniseil  l)y 
those  whom  they  addressed,  and  on  all  occasions  that 
required  a  full  statement  of  their  Christian  belief  (such 
as  when  called  upon  by  the  Governor  of  Barbadoes), 
their  doctrinals  were  shown  to  be  fully  in  accord  with 
those  of  all  Evangelical  Christians.  Thus  orthodox 
Friends  had,  in  this  controversy,  no  difficulty  iu 
obtaining  from  their  published  works,  conclusive  testi- 
monies to  the  inspiration  and  authority  of  Ploly 
Scripture,  and  the  Divinity  and  mediatorial  work  of 
our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

Elias  Hicks,  whose  name  has  become  associated 
with  that  of  the  unitarian  Friends,  was,  by  occupation, 
a  carpenter,  and  also  a  farmer.  Of  a  fine  stalwart 
build,  he  bore  in  his  personal  appearance  some 
resemblance  to  General  Washington.  His  ministry  l-^ 
described  as  characterised  by  "an  astonishing  and 
animated  flow  of  plain  but  powerful  and  penetratin;^ 
language,  a  train  of  argument  that  lightens,  and  senti- 
ment that  warms  whatever  it  touches."    It  was  net 


178 


THE  FRIENDS. 


vintil  the  latter  part  of  his  long  life,  that  he  tooK 
that  antagonistic  attitude  to  the  distinguishing  facts 
and  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  which  caused 
the  schism  that  shook  the  Society  to  its  foundations, 
and  lost  it  nearly  a  third  of  its  members.  Families 
were  divided,  congregations  thrown  into  commotion, 
and  where  the  numbers  on  either  side  were  nearly 
equal,  much  difficulty  arose,  even  to  contentions  in 
Law  Courts  over  possession  of  Meeting  House  Property 
and  Records. 

This  sad  disruption  made  those  who  held  to 
orthodox  views  conscious  of  having  given  too  great  a 
place  to  the  Journals  and  writings  of  Early  Friends, 
and  a  use  of  Manuals  or  selections  from  Scripture, 
rather  than  the  Sacred  Volume  itself,  to  which  they 
now  turned  with  affectionate  and  earnest  attention. 

In  this  they  were  encouraged  through  some  visits 
paid  them  during  this  painful  period  by  various  English 
Friends,  amongst  whom  Hannah  Chapman  Backhouse 
and  Anna  Braithwaite  were — with  their  husbands — 
especially  earnest  in  travelling  throughout  the  American 
meetings,  a  service  of  Christian  love  which  was  per- 
formed by  them  in  arduous  journeys  through  distant 
and  thinly  settled  districts,  involving  much  personal 
fatigue  and  discomfort  to  those,  who,  like  them- 
selves, were  accustomed  to  all  the  refinements  of 
wealthy  homes.  These  they  freely  left  for  years  at  a 
time,  in  the  desire  to  stimulate  a  closer  and  more 
reverential  study  of  the  text  and  teachings  of  Holy 
Scripture,    and    continued   the   service  even  after 


THE  FRIENDS. 


179 


pressure  of  business  had  summoned  their  husbands 
home. 

Notwithstanding  this  separation  in  1827,  both  sec- 
tions continue  to  be  known  as  Friends,  though  for 
distinction  one  is  termed  Hicksite  and  the  other 
Orthodox.  Both  have  numerous  and  large  establish- 
ments in  meeting  premises,  schools,  and  colleges 
but  it  is  only  with  the  Orthodox  section,  that  tho 
English  Friends  continue  to  hold  correspondence. 
It  has  proved  itself  the  more  vigourous  section,  for 
whilst  the  other  is  marked  by  much  culture,  spiritual 
feeling,  and  social  influence,  its  numerical  accessions 
liave  depended  chiefly  on  family  increase  ;  whilst 
the  other,  that  retains  belief  in  a  Divine  Saviour, 
has,  in  a  desire  to  promote  and  extend  His  kingdom 
in  the  heart,  gained  so  many  adherents  that  out 
of  the  100,000  now  bearing  the  name  of  Friends  in 
America,  only  22,000  do  not  belong  to  the  Orthodox 
section.  It  has  expanded  over  the  Western  prairies, 
forming  fresh  Yearly  Meetings  through  large  accessions 
due  to  these  zealous  efforts.  It  has  also  been  responsive 
to  our  Lord's  command  of  preaching  the  gospel  to 
every  creature,  and  maintains  successful  missions  in 
Indian  territories,  in  Mexico,  Syria,  and  Japan,  besides 
giving  liberal  support  to  evangelistic  labours  in  other 
directions. 

It  was  not  only  by  declining  correspondence  with 
the  followers  of  Elias  Hicks,  that  English  Friends  testi- 
fied to  their  own  orthodoxy,  for  they  had  had  several  in- 
stances amongst  themselves,  which  required  from,  them 


180 


THE  FRIENDS. 


a  decision  as  to  which  section  they  belonged.  One  was 
of  a  woman  Friend  from  America,  whose  minis.try,  as 
she  travelled  in  England  and  Ireland,  was  of  a  character 
that  awakened  such  uneasiness  amongst  the  elders,  that 
lier  visit  was  promptly  closed  by  her  acceding  to  their 
expressed  wish  for  her  return. 

Not  long  after  this  a  London  Monthly  Meeting  had 
to  deal  with  one  of  its  members  on  account  of  his 
Unitarian  sentiments,  that  had  led  him  so  far  as  to  sub- 
scribe to  an  organisation  for  spreading  these  views. 
After  much  patient  effort  had  failed  to  effect  any  change 
it  proceeded  to  his  disownment,  according  to  the  advice 
given  in  a  minute  of  the  Society,  dated  as  early  as 
1694,  "  that  if  there  be  any  such  gross  errors,  false 
iloctrine,  or  mistakes  held  by  any  professing  truth,  as 
are  either  against  the  validity  of  Christ's  sufferings, 
blood,  resurrection,  ascension,  or  glory  in  the  heavens, 
according  as  they  are  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures,  or  any- 
wise tending  to  the  denial  of  the  Heavenly  Man 
Christ,"  such,  it  proceeds  to  say,  should  if  persisting  iu 
I  hese  after  instruction  and  remonstrance,  "  be  further 
dealt  with  according  to  Gospel  order,  that  the  Truth, 
Church,  or  Body  of  Christ  may  not  suffer  by  any 
particular  pretended  member  that  is  '  so  corrupt.'  " 

From  this  decision  of  his  Monthly  Meeting,  the 
Friend  appealed  to  the  Quarterly,  and  on  finding  its 
judgment  given  against  him,  carried  his  case,  as  was 
iiiB  right,  to  be  finally  decided  by  the  Society  at  large 
ill  Yearly  Meeting  assembled. 

Such  appeals,  where  faith  and  doctrine  ia  con- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


181 


cerned,  are  not  heard  like  others  by  committees,  but 
in  the  Meeting  itself,  which  on  this  occasion,  throna;h 
the  great  interest  awakened,  formed  a  crowded 
assembly  of  near  upon  a  thousand  men  Friends  of 
varied  age,  rank,  and  education. 

The  appellant  fully  availed  himself  of  such  oppor- 
tunity for  shewing  how  his  views  were,  as  he  contended, 
within  the  lines  of  the  Society's  ancient  belief,  which 
his  very  superior  abilities  and  culture  enabled  him  to 
expound  and  enforce,  in  a  manner  well  calculated  to 
favourably  impress  so  large  and  varied  an  assembly. 
But  he  was  confronted  with  brethren  who,  if  they  could 
not  equal  him  in  oratorical  powers,  were  well  prepared 
with  extracts  and  documents  of  an  authoritative 
character  in  support  of  their  case,  "that  the  appellant, 
having  departed  from  the  Society's  principles,  could 
no  longer  be  retained  as  a  member." 

Several  sittings,  prolonged  through  hours  at  a  time, 
having  been  thus  spent  and  both  parties  having  declared 
that  they  had  been  fully  and  fairly  heard,  the  appellant 
and  his  assistants  and  the  respondents  withdrew  to  leave 
the  large  and  deeply  moved  Assembly  to  its  decision  on 
this  momentous  question.  "  A  solemn  silence  (wrote 
one  who  was  present)  prevailed,  and  continued  for  a 
considerable  time.  At  length  an  elderly  Friend  arose 
— as  remarkable  for  his  clearness  of  mind  as  he  was 
striking  from  his  pleasing  and  venerable  appearance. 
In  a  single  expressive  sentence  he  gave  his  judgment 
against  the  appellant.  Then  many  other  elder  Friends 
arose  one  after  another  with  the  same  conclusion ;  then 


182 


THE  FRIENDS. 


otherB  from  all  parts  of  the  meeting  of  various  ages, 
circumstances,  and  characters,  in  a  general  concurrence 
that  cast  the  verdict  of  that  great  gathering  adverse  to 
the  appellant  in  an  unmistakable  adhesion  to  evan- 
gelical doctrine." 

Thus  the  Yearly  Meeting  when  challenged  by 
individuals  gave  its  firm  adhesion  to  Evangelical  prin- 
ciples, but  it  found  itself  and  the  whole  Society 
greatly  disturbed,  some  ten  years  afterwards  (1836),  by 
a  controversy  that  arose  respecting  the  obligation  of 
Christians  to  observe  the  rites  of  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

It  may  be  said  to  have  arisen  in  a  measure  from  an 
earnest  study  of  the  original  Greek  text  of  Scripture 
through  Bible  Classes,  by  which  many  came  to  regard 
it  as  a  literal  guide  in  practice  as  well  as  doctrine,  so 
that  "  resigning  themselves  to  its  guidance,  they  began 
to  find  ivater  in  the  commission,  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  and 
bread  and  ivine  in  the  command,  Matt.  xxvi.  26-30. 

Several  prominent  ministers  in  the  Society,  now 
submitted  to  the  one  rite  and  practised  the  other, 
making  no  reserve  in  pressing  a  similar  compliance  on 
others  as  a  religious  duty. 

Such  teaching  and  conduct  occasioned  great  dis- 
union and  controversy,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  tho 
Yearly  Meeting  by  its  committees,  endeavoured  to 
effect  some  settlement  of  the  question.  It  resulted  in 
the  Society  holding  firm  amid  such  discussion,  to  its 
ancient  testimony  of  the  non-obligatory  character  of 
these  ceremonials.    As  a  consequence,  those  who  could 


THE  FRIENDS. 


183 


not  but  regard  tliem  as  Ordinances  of  Divine  appoint- 
ment withdrew,  and  in  such  numbers  as  to  inflict 
upon  the  Society  a  loss,  the  more  severe  from  these 
dissentients  having  been  some  of  its  most  esteemed 
members  for  character,  piety,  and  intelligence.  Other 
communities,  especially  the  Evangelical  section  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  which  most  of  them  eventually 
joined,  reaped  no  doubt  much  advantage  by  the 
accession  to  their  ranks  of  such  zealous,  pious,  and  in- 
tellectual converts. 

How  much  further  the  rent  might  have  gone  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  if  some  gifted  minds  had  not  arisen 
to  stand  as  in  the  breach  and  reconcile  the  waverers  on 
the  question  of  the  non-obligatory  character  of  Ritual 
for  Christians.  Amongst  these  none  became  more 
prominent  than  Joseph  John  Gurney  and  William 
Forster,  the  one  learned,  wealthy,  and  gracefully  per- 
suasive in  his  discourse,  the  other  deep  and  fervent, 
both  thoroughly  imbued  with  evangelical  views,  and  in 
the  highest  esteem  amongst  their  friends  for  Christian 
and  social  virtues. 

Joseph  John  Gurney  having  a  reputation  for 
Scholarship  and  Biblical  acquirements,  could  well  pro- 
mote a  study  of  Holy  Scripture  in  preference  to  the  use 
of  Manuals  and  doctrinal  Abstracts,  until  then  much  in 
vogue,  especially  in  schools,  and  by  contrasting  and 
applying  varied  passages  from  the  Old  and  New  Tesia- 
ments,  succeeded  in  making  it  seen  that  the  Scriptures 
are  the  best  interpreters  of  their  own  meaning  ;  a  Lock, 
to  which  they  themselves  give  the  opening  Key. 


184 


THE  FRIENDS. 


He  would  do  this  in  so  pleasing  and  convincing  a 
manner  as  to  interest  while  it  edified — none  more  so 
ihan  the  young — at  the  various  Schools  to  whose 
Biblical  instruction  he  attended  with  the  deepest 
solicitude. 

He  was  a  voluminous  Author  on  doctrinal  sub- 
jects, and  a  great  traveller  in  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
not  alone  in  Great  Britain  but  also  America.  His  dis- 
courses were  often  long  expositions  of  Christian  Truths 
in  a  style  so  impressive  that  a  burlesque  of  the  day  said 
"  If  the  lawn  in  thy  hand  were  but  riband  and  band, 
oh  how  as  a  bishop  thou'd  shine,  Joseph  John."  The 
Friends'  community  owes  to  him  very  much  in  having 
fcit6mmed  the  tide  of  secession  from  its  ranks  of  those 
who  thought  that  to  reverence  Scripture  aright,  was  to 
accept  its  literal  interpretation  in  ceremonial  ob- 
servances. 

William  Forster,  his  most  intimate  friend,  was  de- 
voted from  his  youthful  manhood,  to  the  service  of  the 
Gospel.  He  never  followed  any  profession  for  a  liveli- 
hood, though  he  had  been  trained  to  his  father's  of 
surveyor  and  land  agent.  His  early  dedication  added 
to  the  impressiveness  of  his  deep  and  earnest  expositions 
of  Gospel  truth,  free  from  all  external  rites  and  cere- 
monies, and  the  power  and  pathos  of  his  eloquent  dis- 
course aroused  the  consciences  and  warmed  the  hearts 
of  his  hearers.  So  extensive  were  his  travels  in  this 
service  of  Gospel  love,  that  it  has  been  said  "  hardly  any 
Friends  in  any  part  of  the  three  Kingdoms  but  had  en- 
joyed the  opportunity  of  listening  to  William  Forster, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


185 


as  he  Bet  forth  to  them  the  unfathomable  mysteries  of 
the  Divine  love  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  dwelt  upon  the 
fallen  state  of  Man," 

By  his  marriage  in  early  middle  life  with  Anna  Bux- 
ton he  had  sufficient  means  for  a  country  residence,  where 
he  might  have  lived  continuously  in  a  quiet  way  well 
suited  to  his  natural  love  of  ease,  but  he  never  allowed 
his  own  comforts  to  interfere  with  seldom  ceasing 
labours;  now  to  serve  the  starving  Irish  by  personal 
exertions — that  tired  out  many  a  younger  assistant — in 
its  years  of  sore  famine,  then  to  travel  hither  and  thither 
on  some  service  throughout  the  British  Isles,  and 
(wretched  sailor  as  he  was,  like  so  many  another  bulky 
person)  he  crossed  and  recrossed  the  Atlantic  three  or 
four  times  on  missions  of  ministry  or  mercy  to  ma 
American  continent,  the  last  of  which  (as  will  be  seen 
in  the  Chapter  on  Slavery)  cost  him  his  life. 

Though  it  may  seem  invidious  to  name  any  of  the 
many  others  who  equally  laboured  for  settlement  in  this 
time  of  unrest,  yet  it  may  be  noted  how  much  its  at- 
tainment was  due  to  the  calm  and  dignified  wisdom 
of  Samuel  Tuke,  the  indefatigable  cciicitude  of  Josiah 
Forster,  the  steadfastness  of  a  George  Stacey,  a  Grover 
Kemp,  a  Joseph  Tregelles  Price,  or  the  advisatory 
help  of  a  Joseph  Davis  ;  men  representative  of  so 
many  more  ;  with  Susanna  Corder,  guardian  and  in- 
structress of  maiden  youth,  and  other  sister  Friends, 
wise  in  Christian  counsel  and  experience.  Ministry 
of  a  varied  kind  abounded,  from  the  rich  mosaic 
.Joseph    Shewell    would    construct    from  apposite 


186 


THE  FR1E>"DS. 


texts,  or  what  his  brother  John  would  more  logically 
evolve  from  the  same  source,  the  strident  tones  of  a 
Thomas  Shillitoe,  or  the  stream  of  verbal  and  Doctrinal 
eloquence  amounting  with  some  to  enchantment,  that 
would  flow  by  the  hour  together  from  a  John  Pease — 
these,  amid  so  many  others  were  as  pillars  in  the 
Church.  "Women  Friends  there  were  in  the  same  ministry 
— cogent  as  Hannah  Backhouse,  gracefully  persuasive 
as  Elizabeth  Fry,  copious  as  Elizabeth  Dudley,  and 
stately  in  Gospel  peroration  as  a  Mary  Ann  Bayes.  To 
such  as  these,  those  who  can  recall  times  of  fifty  years 
ago,  trace  much  influence  in  steadying  minds  to 
Friends' principles,  and  raising  a  generation  prepared  to 
carry  on  the  Society  for  future  service  in  its  coming 
vearn 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  FRIENDS  AS  PIONEERS  IN  PHILANTHROPTifl 
EFFORTS. 

rpHE  presence  in  any  country  of  a  community  widely 
dispersed  and  well  organised  like  the  Friends, 
pledged  to  right  living,  must  under  Divine  guidance 
prove  morally  influential. 

That  England's  betterment  has  been  thus  promoted 
is  manifest  by  their  continued  exertions  in  the  cause  of 
philanthropy  and  social  reform.  Not  so  much  by 
ofBcial  acts  of  the  Society,  although  these  have  never 
failed,  but  through  a  general  willingness  and  aptitude 
of  its  members  everywhere  to  serve  as  pioneers  in 
efforts  for  the  abolition  of  evils,  or  introduction  of  social 
reforms,  and  to  form  a  phalanx  around  which  good  men 
of  every  shade  of  opinion  could  rally  for  their  promotion. 

As  it  would  be  unfair  to  claim  Friends  as  the  ex- 
clusive originators  of  any  one  of  the  great  social  move- 
ments of  the  age,  so  would  it  be  yet  more  unjust  to 
forget  that  many  of  its  prominent  reforms  .have 
owed  their  success  to  support  given  by  them  at  times 
when  authorities  opposed,  or  public  opinion  was  in  a 
state  of  indifference  to  what  are  now  recognized  as 
blessings  of  freedom  and  justice  to  Society  at  large. 

When  Thomas  Clarkson's  youthful  spirit  had  been 
stirred  by  the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade,  the  only  book- 


1S8 


THE  FRIENDS. 


seller  he  could  fiad  willing  to  publish  his  essay  for  its 
abolition  was  William  Phillips  ;  a  Friend  in  whose 
parlour  gathered  the  first  little  group  of  some  dozen 
warm  hearts  that  pledged  themselves  thenceforth  to 
agitate  without  ceasing,  for  an  end  to  this  iniquitous 
traflScking  in  their  fellow  men,  and  of  these  twelve 
three-fourths  were  Friends. 

So  when  some  half-century  of  unceasing  labour  had 
ended  in  the  abolition  both  of  the  Slave  trade  and  Slavery 
from  British  Dominions,  and  a  great  gathering  in  Free- 
masons' Hall  met  to  celebrate  the  victory,  those  who 
look  upon  the  picture  of  it,  painted  by  Haydon,  will  see 
that  most  of  the  faces  which  crowd  his  huge  canvass, 
and  most  of  the  principal  figures  seated  around  the 
patriarchal  Clarkson  are  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends. 

With  this  Society  was  Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton 
connected  both  by  descent  and  close  association,  and 
through  one  of  its  gifted  Ministers,  a  dearly  beloved 
sister-in-law,  he  was  induced  by  her  earnest  entreaties 
addressed  to  him  from  a  dying  couch,  to  give  his  energy 
and  tenacity  of  purpose  to  a  cause  in  which  her  own 
heart's  feelings  had  been  greatly  enlisted.  From  such 
a  source  an  appeal  came  to  him  almost  as  a  Divine 
command,  for  Priscilla  Gurney  possessed  spiritual  and 
mental  endowments,  as  much  held  in  affectionate 
remembrance  by  her  Friends,  as  those  of  her  sister 
Elizabeth  Fry  have  come  to  be  esteemed  by  the  world 
ut large. 

Then  as  to  Public  Elementary  Education.  When 


THE  FRIENDS. 


189 


Joseph  Lancaster,  a  young  Friend,  was  showing  in  his 
School  at  the  Borough  Road  how  large  numbers  could 
be  so  taught  by  Monitors  as  to  reduce  its  cost,  none 
rallied  more  firmly  to  his  support  than  members  of 
his  own  Society.  By  their  zealous  efforts  the  system  of 
Monitorial  education  spread  to  the  opening  of  such 
schools  all  over  the  country.  The  local  committees  foi- 
their  management  were  at  first  chiefly  formed  from 
amongst  the  Friends,  to  whose  generous  contributions 
England  stands  largely  indebted  for  the  school  build- 
ings that  quickly  arose  in  her  cities  and  country  towns. 

None  worked  more  zealously  in  this  cause  than 
William  Allen,  the  philosophic  and  philanthropic 
chemist  of  Lombard  Street,  by  whose  personal  influence 
many  of  the  great  and  noble  were  induced  to  favour 
extension  of  Education  to  classes,  which  public  opinion 
then  thought  it  best  for  their  easier  government  to 
keep  in  ignorance.  It  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  to  which  he  acted 
for  many  years  as  honorary  secretary. 

Then  again  at  a  time  when  mobs  would  gather 
week  by  week  around  scaffolds  to  feast  their  brutalised 
gaze  on  the  executions  of  fellow  creatures,  often 
for  but  trifling  offences,  none  of  the  humane  hearts 
shocked  at  this  legalised  cruelty  gathered  more  per- 
sistently than  Friends  around  a  Romilly,  a  Basil 
Montague,  or  a  Lushington,  to  inaugurate  those  efforts 
that  have  at  last  abolished  the  death  penalty  from  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  offences  and  confined 
its  rare  infliction  to  the  gravest  of  crimes. 


190 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Long  before  a  Shaftesbury  had  come  upon  the 
Bcene,  when  thieves  held  such  possession  that  none 
ventured  near  their  quarters  without  some  officer  of 
the  law,  the  person  of  a  Peter  Bedford,  of  Spitalfields, 
was  ever  welcome  as  one  who,  whilst  condemning  the 
sin  could  pity  the  sinner,  and  who  strove  for  his  refor- 
mation by  acts  of  kindness  that  oft  saved  him  from 
punishment  by  gaol  or  halter.  His  judicious  benevo- 
lence, exerted  in  many  ways  on  behalf  of  the  poor  by  per- 
sonal visits,  raising  funds  in  times  of  distress,  promoting 
soup  kitchens,  clothing  clubs,  &c.,  made  his  long 
residence  in  these  oft  distressed  localities  a  blessing. 
Old  age  found  him  in  a  country  retirement,  rejoicing 
in  the  general  efforts  made  for  social  amelioration  of 
the  lower  and  criminal  classes.  He  had  many  an  anecdote 
of  his  personal  experiences  amongst  them,  of  which 
one,  though  but  trivial  in  character,  may  be  permitted 
as  showing  how  even  thieves  respected  his  belongings. 
They  had  taken  oflE  luggage  from  the  post-chaise  of  a 
bridal  party,  that  came  in  distress  to  Peter  for  help. 
He  at  once  knew  where  to  go  and  reproached  the 
captain  of  the  gang.  "  Very  sorry  (he  replied)  no  idea 
it  was  one  of  yourn  Friends,  we  never  touch  them  if  we 
knows  it — the  things  shall  be  on  your  doorstep  to- 
night,"— and  so  they  were,  but  not  the  portmanteaus 
themselves  which  had  been  already  destroyed.  To 
meet  with  characters  such  as  Peter  Bedford,  working 
quietly  for  good  at  the  dawn  of  this  century,  is  like 
coming  on  the  bubblings  up  of  the  fountain,  in  com- 
parison with  the  broad  stream  of  benevolence  that 


THE  FRIENDS. 


191 


happily  now  flows  towards  these  then  much-neglected 
classes  of  society. 

At  regular  and  frequent  intervals  were  Lord 
Mayors  found  presiding  in  solemn  state  at  Courts  of 
Assize,  yet  giving  little  heed  as  to  how  those  brought 
before  them  were  being  cared  for  within  the  massive 
walls  that  adjoined  their  Judgment  Hall. 

It  was  a  French  Friend  who  first  unveiled  the 
wretched  state  of  prisoners  in  Newgate.  Stephen  Grellet 
whilst  visiting  London  on  gospel  service  obtained  per- 
mission to  visit  these,  and  after  his  interviews  with  the 
men  prisoners,  requested  to  be  shown  into  the  ivomen's 
ward.  "  You  will  enter  there  (replied  the  jailor)  at  your 
own  peril,  for  those  demons  will  tear  the  clothes  from 
your  back."  Unappalled  at  the  prospect,  he  entered 
alone,  and  his  look,  manner,  and  voice,  as  he  lovingly 
addressed  them,  made  him  seem  as  an  angel  to  their 
astonished  gaze,  whilst  they  crowded  around  in  earnest 
attention. 

Never  before  had  such  words  of  kindness  reached 
their  ears,  and  never  before  had  this  Christian  noble- 
man— as  was  Grellet  by  rank — seen  such  misery  within 
prison  walls  as  these  poor  creatures  showed  in  their 
ragged  half-clothed  condition.  He  hastened  to  his 
Friend,  Elizabeth  Fry,  with  an  account  of  what  he  had 
discovered  as  the  state  of  London's  chief  prison.  Her 
warm  heart,  touched  at  the  narration,  summoned  a 
group  of  women  friends  to  meet  that  afternoon  in 
the  parlour  of  her  husband's  Bank,  where  many  ;i 
bright  face  and  skilled  hand  quickly  transformed  the 


192 


THE  FRIEKDS. 


flannel  she  had  ordered  of  the  tradesmen,  into  some 
garments  for  the  ne-wly-born  babes  amongst  these  poor 
neglected  sisters  of  a  criminal  class,  whom  none  until 
then  had  thought  worthy  of  care  except  for  imprison- 
ment, transportation,  or  death. 

Furnished  with  these  outward  proofs  of  kindness, 
her  own  visit  next  day  to  Newgate  aided  the  effect  of 
her  loving  and  majestic  presence,  and  proved  the  com- 
mencement of  what  issued  in  regular  Bible  readings 
amongst  them,  and  led  also  to  the  formation  of  Com- 
mittees for  Prison  inspection,  and  to  those  wide 
measures  of  reform  with  which  the  name  of  this  re- 
markable Friend  is  so  closely  associated. 

In  efforts  for  abolition  of  capital  punishment,  another 
member  of  the  Society  became  so  deeply  interested,  as 
to  spend  nights  and  days  throughout  many  a  year  in 
preparing  documents  and  appeals,  and  in  personal  efforts 
with  those  in  authority,  until  the  tall  form  and  finely 
chiselled  features  of  John  Thomas  Barry,  dressed  in 
the  Friendliest  of  Friends'  costume,  became  a  familiar 
object  in  the  Lobbies  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
whose  members  each  in  turn  would  be  made  the 
subject  of  his  earnest  solicitations  for  an  entire  aboli- 
tion of  the  death  penalty. 

No  less  persistent  was  the  benevolence  of  a  Friend 
physician  towards  the  native  population  of  Foreign 
Lands,  on  whose  behalf  Dr.  Thomas  Hodgkin  founded 
the  Aborigines'  Protection  Society,  at  a  time  when 
"  whites  treated  blacks  as  if  they  were  but  wild 
beasts" — happily,  and  largely  through  these  efforts. 


8 


ELIZABETH   FRY  {KROM  A  PAINTING  BY  S.  DRUMMOND, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


treated  so  no  longer.  His  character  for  universal 
benevolence  received  from  Sir  Moses  Montefiore^ 
whom  he  often  accompanied  as  physician  in  his  long 
journeys,  a  generous  tribute  by  his  having  erected  an 
obelisk  over  the  grave  at  Jaffa,  where  the  doctor  died 
during  one  of  these  expeditions,  engraved  with  the 
classic  sentence,  "  No  man,  if  he  be  a  man,  can  be  to 
me  other  than  a  brother." 

Friends'  well  known  prominence  in  the  Temper- 
ance and  Total  Abstinence  movement  is  the  more^ 
observable,  seeing  how  many  of  them  were  at  one  time 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  alcoholic 
beverages,  so  that  it  would  have  been  as  difficult  in  the 
early  years  of  this  century  to  find  a  town  or  city  where 
some  member  of  the  Society  was  not  a  leading 
Maltster,  Brewer,  or  Wine  Merchant,  as  it  is  now  to 
meet  with  any  engaged  in  such  trades,  or  having  their 
produce  in  their  homes  or  on  their  tables.  Some  of 
the  most  successful  advocates  for  the  change  have  come 
from  among  themselves,  such  as  Samuel  Bowly,  of 
Gloucester,  who  may  be  credited  through  Iiis^ 
drawing-room  meetings  with  much  of  the  support 
gained  to  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  from  among  the 
upper  ranks, and  especially  the  clergy.  "  Never," said  one 
of  the  leading  dignitaries  of  the  present  day,  "  have  1 
listened  to  a  more  persuasive  speaker." 

So  earnest  also  at  all  times  have  Friends  been 
f or  the  promotion  of  Peace  and  condemnation  of  War,, 
that  their  position  in  this  question  must  be  treated  of 
in  a  separate  chapter. 


194 


THE  FRIENDS. 


In  the  foundation  and  work  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  no  one  Friend  may  have  become 
prominent,  though  few  members  of  its  present  Com- 
mittee have  travelled  further  in  Foreign  Lands 
to  promote  its  interests,  than  their  much  esteemed 
colleague,  J.  B.  Braithwaite.  Nor  can  the  long  ser- 
vice of  the  Forster  Brothers,  with  that  of  many  other 
Friends,  have  been  forgotten.  The  presence  of  a 
"Friend"  element  on  the  Committee  was  until  late 
years  so  marked  that  a  devotional  pause  for  free  offer- 
ings of  prayer  was  observed,  instead  of  opening  with  any 
delegated  service.  But  Friends'  chief  assistance  to 
the  cause  Avas  rendered  in  the  formation  and  working  of 
Auxiliary  societies  all  over  the  country,  these  being 
found  to  become  independent  centres  around  which 
other  Denominations  would  rally.  Meetings  arranged 
by  them  would  be  attended  by  earnest  minded 
Christians  of  all  denominations,  and  the  travelling 
agents  of  the  Society,  such  as  Dr.  Steinkopff  and  others, 
learnt  to  highly  value  and  esteem  the  Friends  who 
offered  them  the  hospitality  of  their  homes,  at  a  time 
when  the  Gentry  were  apathetic,  and  Clerical  digni- 
taries fearful,  lest  a  free  circulation  of  Scripture  should 
lessen  regard  for  the  Lessons  taken  from  it  as  read  in 
Churches.  On  the  Friends  themselves  the  association 
it  brought  with  those  of  other  denominations  had  a 
beneficial  effect,  in  liberalising  views  that  in  any  close 
attention  to  Society  interest  might  have  become  narrow 
or  exclusive. 

In  Political  affairs  their  influence  as  Electors  has 


THE  FRIENDS. 


195 


been  liiberal,  often  Radical,  and  their  service  as  Mem- 
bers has  been  marked  by  that  high  moral  tone 
politicians  of  all  shades  recognised  in  John  Bright,  of 
which  also  William  Edward  Forster,  who  was  nurtured 
in  the  same  Society,  gave  proof  in  the  manner"  by  which 
he  was  able  to  steer  an  Education  Bill  into  legal 
operation  that  had  hitherto  baffled  all  previous  States- 
men, and  one  which  in  its  successful  operation  has 
largely  realised  the  poetically  expressed  aspirations  of 
Wordsworth  : 

0  for  the  coming  of  tliat  glorious  time 

When  prizing  Knowledge  as  her  noblest  wealth, 

And  best  protection,  this  Imperial  Realm, 

While  she  exacts  Allegiance  shall  admit 

An  Obligation  on  Her  part  to  Teach 

Those  who  are  born  to  serve  Her  and  obey, 

Binding  Herself  by  Statute  to  secure 

For  all  the  children  whom  her  soil  maintains, 

The  rudiments  of  letters  and  inforce 

The  mind  with  Moral  and  Religious  Truth. 

Foremost  as  Friends  have  shown  themselves 
amongst  the  labourers  for  general  education,  freedom, 
and  social  reform,  it  may  also  be  observed  that  across 
the  Ocean  their  influence  has  left  its  mark  on  the 
framework  of  the  great  American  Nation,  whose  con- 
stitution still  bears  foundation  traces  of  the  original 
basis  of  perfect  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  Friends 
exemplified  in  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania ;  within 
whose  Capital  its  declaration  of  Independence  was 
signed,  and  it  is  still  the  one  which  amongst  all  its 
sisters  who  crowd  the  Nation's  Star-spangled  Banner, 
bears  the  name  of  the  "  Key-stone  State." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


SLAVERY. 

He  who  values  Liberty  confines 
nib  zeal  for  her  predominance,  within 
No  narrow  bounds,  her  cause  engages  him, 
Wherever  pleaded — 'Tis  the  cause  of  Man. 

COWPER— TFeM<er  Morning  Walk. 

TjIXGLISH  Friends  first  made  acquaintiince  with  the 

system  of  Negro  Slavery  when  their  early  ministers 
visited  the  West  India  Islands,  and  found  how  many 
fellow  countrymen,  settled  there,  were  become  depen- 
dent on  bondsmen  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar  planta- 
tions. These  they  exhorted  "  to  deal  mildly  and  gently 
with  their  negroes  and  not  use  cruelty  towards  them, 
and  that  after  certain  years  of  servitude,  they  would 
make  them  free." 

They  also  held  religious  meetings  amongst  this 
slave  population,  in  the  assurance  of  their  being  as 
much  entitled  to  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  as  their 
masters,  and  they  induced  those  of  the  Settlers  who 
became  Friends  to  continue  this  Christian  interest  in 
their  welfare. 

This  conduct  caused  much  opposition,  from  a 
belief  that  the  blacks  were  an  inferior  race,  unworthy 
of  liberty  or  regard  as  Christian  beings,  and  could  only 
be  managed  safely  through  their  state  of  ignorance  being 
left  undisturbed,  tho  removal  of  which  was  dreaded  by 


THE  FRIENDS. 


197 


the  masters  as  likely  to  produce  rioting  and  rebellion 
amongst  them. 

Without  any  such  fears  the  Friends  continued 
solicitous  for  their  slaves'  welfare,  and  on  settling  in 
Pennsylvania  pursued  the  same  kind  treatment  towards 
those  they  acquired  by  purchase  from  the  merchants, 
who  traded  thither  with  cargoes  of  these  human  beings 
from  Africa.  Thus  the  race  of  bondsmen  which  grew 
up  in  an  otherwise  free  country,  were  so  well  cared 
for  that  Watson  in  his  Annals  affirms  of  them  that  "in 
contrast  to  others,  those  of  Philadelphia  were  a  happier 
class  of  people  than  the  free  blacks." 

The  earliest  protest  against  this  system  came  from 
some  German  Friends  settled  near  Philadelphia,  who 
in  1688  addressed  their  Monthly  Meeting  in  an  earnest 
appeal,  claiming  equal  rights  of  hody^  as  well  as  con- 
science, for  all  peaceably  conducted  inhabitants  of  the 
State,  whatever  might  be  their  colour  or  race.*  Their 
views  were  in  advance  of  their  time,  even  among 
Friends.  The  Monthly  Meeting  when  thus  addressed, 
thought  it  "  too  weighty  a  subject  for  them  to  meddle 
with,"  and  likewise  the  Quarterly,  to  which  it  was 
next  referred,  and  the  Yearly  on  its  consideration 
"felt  it  had  so  general  a  relation  to  many  other  parts 
that  they  forbore  at  that  present  to  give  positive  judg- 
ment in  the  case" — for  as  Whittier  observes  in  his 

*A  facsimile  of  this  earliest  appeal — ^the  original  of  which 
was  discovered  a  few  years  since — may  be  seen  in  the  Gallery  of 
the  London  Friends'  Institute,  with  the  signatures  of  Pastorius 
and  others. 


198 


THE  FRIE^•D3. 


lines  on  Pastorius,  who  was  a  leading  member  of  thia 
little  group  of  freedom's  advocates  : 

Wealth  and  station  had  their  sanction  lent 
To  hardened  avarice  on  its  gains  intent, 
But  still  these  tender  hearts  their  burden  bore, 
In  warning  message  to  the  Church's  door. 

And  there  the  leaven  of  humanity  and  justice 
worked,  though  but  slowly  as  it  must  be  confessed, 
for  it  was  not  until  forty  years  afterwards  that 
Yearly  Meetings  in  London  and  America  concurred  in 
condemning  the  practice  of  importing  negroes  from 
their  native  country,  and  directed  that  those  already  in 
possession  "should  be  trained  up  in  the  principles  of 
the  Christian  religion."  Within  another  half-century, 
however,  all  Friends  were  become  clear  both  in  England 
and  America,  not  only  of  trafficking  in,  but  also  of 
holding  slaves,  and  none,  moreover,  were  allowed  to 
remain  members  who  did  not  on  giving  these  poor 
creatures  their  freedom  make  some  remunerative  pro- 
vision for  their  future. 

It  is  impossible  to  look  upon  these  eflEorts  of  the 
Society  to  be  freed  of  having  any  share  in  claiming  "a 
property  in  the  human  race  as  if  they  were  beasts  who 
perish,"  without  attention  being  drawn  to  three 
American  citizens,  of  widely  different  stamp,  yet  each 
in  his  way  largely  instrumental  in  rousing  this 
crusade  against  Slavery.  Of  this  trio  Benjamin  Lay's 
share  was  marked  by  eccentricity,  Anthony  Benezet's 
by  a  Frenchman's  fervour,  and  John  "Woolman's  with 
saintly  persistence,  to  each  of  whom  some  personal 


THE  FRIENDS. 


199 


allusions  may  be  admitted.  Of  BenjaminLay  (who,  to  be 
clear  of  the  gains  of  oppression,  lived  hermit-like  in  a 
cave)  Whittier  remarks,  "  his  appearance  was  in  keep- 
ing with  his  eccentric  life.  A  figure  only  four  feet 
and  a  half  high,  hunch-backed,  with  projecting  chest, 
legs  small  and  arms  longer  than  his  legs,  a  huge  head, 
showing  beneath  an  enormous  white  hat,  large  solemn 
eyes  and  a  prominent  nose  ;  the  rest  of  his  face  covered 
with  a  snowy  semi-circle  of  beard  falling  low  on  his 
breast."  Such  was  the  little  man,  who,  as  an  "  irre- 
pressible prophet,  troubled  the  Israel  of  slave-holding 
Friends." 

A  former  residence  in  the  West  Indies  had 
wrought  in  him  this  horror  of  a  system  that  he  grieved 
to  see  taking  root  in  the  free  soil  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
no  protest  could,  in  his  opinion,  be  too  vehement  in 
its  condemnation.  He  would  accordingly  waylay  con- 
gregations, coming  from  their  .places  of  worship,  to 
harangue  them  on  its  iniquity — and  close  his  violent 
denunciations  by  sword  thrusts  into  a  bladder  at  his 
side,  which,  charged  with  red  fluid,  sent  it  streaming 
amongst  them  as  witness  to  their  blood-guiltiness 
towards  the  poor  slaves.  His  evident  sincerity  of  pur- 
pose had  no  doubt  its  effect,  and  when  told  on  his 
death-bed,  at  an  advanced  age,  that  Friends  had  at  last, 
when  assembled  in  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  1758,  resolved 
to  rid  themselves  of  any  further  share  in  this  system,  he 
exclaimed,  "  Thanksgiving  and  praise  be  rendered  unto 
the  Lord  God,  I  can  now  die  in  peace." 

Anthony  Benezet,  who  was  one  of  the  Frenchmen 


200 


THE  FRIENDS. 


settled  in  Philadelphia,  united  learning  and  judgment 
with  the  vivacity  of  his  race,  that  made  him  influential 
not  only  in  personal  advocacy,  but  also  by  his 
published  works  and  through  his  large  correspon- 
dence in  awakening  minds  both  in  England  and 
America,  to  the  sin  of  holding  fellow  men  in  bonds, 
"and  living  in  ease  and  plenty  by  the  toil  of  those 
whom  violence  and  cruelty  have  put  out  of  power 
to  help  themselves."  Granville  Sharp  considered  one 
of  his  works  to  have  had  much  influence  on  public 
opinion,  in  supporting  Lord  Mansfield's  famous  decision 
of  1772,  that  "so  soon  as  a  Slave  sets  foot  on  English 
soil  his  freedom  is  assured." 

"Slaves" — exclaimed  the  Poet  of  Olney — "cannot 
breathe  in  England,  if  their  lungs  imbibe  our  air  that 
moment  they  are  free.  They  touch  our  Country  and 
their  shackles  fall." 

Of  John  "Woolman,  language  cannot  adequately 
describe  the  deep  sense  of  saintliness  and  worth, 
which  a  perusal  of  the  published  Journal  of  his  life's 
labours  produces.  Humble  as  he  was  in  his  circum- 
stances, being  only  a  small  tradesman  and  law  writer, 
he  travelled  far  and  oft  on  gospel  service  intent ;  ever 
an  unflinching  advocate  for  equal  rights  to  all 
humanity.  In  the  course  of  this  disinterested  labour 
he  came  to  England,  where  to  the  great  grief  of  his 
friends,  he  died  soon  after  arrival  at  York,  in 
1772.  The  Journal  published  after  his  decease  is  what 
Charles  Lamb  advises  "all  to  get  by  heart  and  love  tlie 
early  Friends."    May  it  not  further  be  added,  love 


THE  FRIENDS. 


201 


also  what  he  and  they  have  done  for  the  slave. 

Friends'  consciences  having  been  cleared  both  in 
England  and  America,  first  of  dealing  in  or  importing 
negroes,  and  also,  by  1782,  of  having  any  members,  who 
continued  to  hold  slaves,  they  were  prepared  for  that 
Anti-Slavery  Crusade,  in  which  from  first  to  last  their 
presence  was  so  effectively  conspicuous.  Like  many 
another  great  effort  it  had  but  a  small  commencement. 
The  formation  of  an  Association  for  the  Abolition  of 
Negro  Slavery  was  made,  it  is  said,  at  the  instance  of 
William  Diilwyn,  a  Friend  from  America,  who  with 
eleven  others  met  in  the  parlour  of  a  Friend  publisher's, 
and  chose  as  their  chairman  Granville  Sharp,  who 
with  Thomas  Clarkson  and  one  other,  were  the  only 
individuals  comjiosing  that  little  group  that  were  not 
Friends,  In  1787  this  struggle  in  the  cause  of  the 
Slave  began,  and  not  till  1834  were  the  British 
dominions  made  wholly  free  to  all  men. 

Strange  alternation  of  hope  and  disappointment 
marked  those  fifty  years  of  abolition  contest,  which  took 
deeper  hold  of  the  National  mind  and  conscience  after 
each  successive  defeat,  that  self  interested  parties  secured 
for  it  in  the  Legislature,  until  at  last  twenty  millions 
sterling  were  willingly  devoted  in  compensation  to 
slave-holders  for  the  Nation  to  be  freed  of  their  bonds- 
men. 

The  Slave  Trade  had  been  declared  illegal  as 
piracy  thirty  years  before,  but  only  by  efforts  of  an 
intensely  sustained  character,  had  that  national  senti- 
ment of  injustice  and  wrong  been  formed,  that  swept 


202 


THE  FRIENDS. 


all  slavery  away  from  British  dominion  before  its 
irresistible  current. 

Whilst  the  public  mind  associates  the  great  names 
of  a  Wilberforce,  a  Clarkson,  and  a  Buxton,  with  this 
success,  none  more  than  they  knew  what  was  due  to 
the  Society  of  Friends,  who  everywhere  had  supported 
them  in  their  laborious  and  prolonged  contest.  Clark- 
son,  in  his  work  on  the  subject,  has  earnestly  expressed 
"  what  we  have  been  compelled  to  prove  to  others  by  a 
long  chain  of  evidence,  that  negroes  have  the  same 
feelings  and  capacities  as  ourselves,  and  that  they  ought 
to  be  considered  as  persons  ransomed  by  one  and  the 
same  Saviour,  and  as  visited  by  the  same  light  for 
salvation." 

If  space  permitted  many  an  excellent  Address  might 
be  quoted,  which  the  Yearly  Meeting  had  issued  to 
encourage  its  members  in  perseverance,  through  times 
when  it  seemed  hoping  against  hope  to  look  for  success, 
each  based  on  the  recognition  of  equality  of  man- 
kind in  the  sight  of  their  Creator  and  Redeemer. 

It  now  desired  that  all  Nations  might  become  like 
the  British,  free  from  what  it  described  as  so  "  mani- 
fold an  atrocity,  that  we  think  even  the  history  of 
the  whole  world  does  not  furnish  a  parallel  to  its 
crime  " — one  which — "  we  deem  it  scarcely  possible  for 
a  man  of  the  most  comprehensive  mind  fully  to  possess 
himself  of  the  extent  of  the  evil."  Such  are  expressions 
to  be  found  in  a  long  and  fervent  appeal  issued  by  the 
London  Yearly  Meeting  of  1849,  which  through  its 
Committee  it  proceeded  to  lay  before  Rulers  and  States- 


THE  FRIENDS. 


203 


men  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  then  in  a  similar 
manner  to  gain  for  it  attention  from  the  Governors  of 
the  American  States.  In  this  arduous  service  of  several 
years'  duration,  William  Forster  had  a  leading  share. 

It  took  him  to  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Holland, 
Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Austria, 
Bavaria,  Italy  and  Spain,  In  nearly  all  cases  he  and  his 
companions  succeeded  in  obtaining  interviews  with 
kings,  emperors,  statesmen,  and  officials,  and  copies  of 
the  Address  thus  presented  were  largely  circulated  in 
those  countries.  After  four  years  thus  spent,  William 
Forster  with  three  companions  proceeded  in  1853  to 
North  America,  where  interviews  were  had  with  the 
President,  and  also  the  Governors  of  most  of  the  States, 
until,  when  the  service  of  love  was  near  upon  its  con- 
clusion, he  was  laid  to  his  rest — at  three  score  and  ten 
— in  far  otf  Tennessee. 

Beneath  that  massive  form  a  heart  was  bleeding 

For  all  earth's  woe  ; 
'Till  the  strained  tension  burst  the  clay-built  dwelling, 

And  laid  it  low. 

M.  E.  Beck. 

He  sought  not  glory,  but  he  found 

A  glorious  death  at  last ; 
When  on  the  slavers'  blighted  ground, 

He  sank  beneath  the  blast. 

Anna  Gurney. 
His  brother  Josiah,  William  Holmes,  and  John 
Candler,  who  had  been  united  with  him  in  this  arduous 
service,  were  able  to  complete  it  by  having  interviews 
with  the  Governors  of  the  few  remaining  States,  not 
previously  visited,  before  returning  to  England. 


204 


THE  FRIENDS. 


In  the  midyt  of  such  general  zeal  amongst  the 
Friends  in  the  anti-slavery  cause,  it  may  seem'invidious 
to  mention  individual  eiforts,  but  it  should  not  be  for- 
gotten how  a  Joseph  Sturge,  Thomas  Harvey,  George 
\Villiam  Alexander,  and  several  others  were  at  the  pains 
of  travelling  on  various  occasions  to  the  West  Indies 
that  they  might  testify  of  what  they  themselves  had 
seen  of  the  evils  they  laboured  to  remove.  Kor  how 
William  Allen  journeyed  to  Paris  and  Verona,  atten- 
dant on  the  Congresses  assembled  there  to  settle  the 
peace  of  Europe,  and  by  his  influence  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  gained  opportunities  to  plead  with 
some  success  the  Negro's  cause.  Nor  amidst  the  host 
of  advocates  it  elicited  in  our  own  Land,  should  be  left 
unnoticed  the  manner  in  which  a  Samuel  Bowly  could, 
•without  any  oratorical  training,  confront  and  confound 
in  speeches  of  three  hours'  length,  a  practised  advocate 
of  the  West  India  interests  before  vast  audiences  in 
Exeter  Hall,  and  by  his  forcible  and  pathetic  appeals 
rouse  in  them  a  generous  and  contagious  enthusia.sm, 
greatly  assistant  to  a  national  desire  for  the  slaves' 
emancipation. 

Reverting  to  America  it  will  be  found  that  the 
Northern  States  followed  the  example  of  Pennsylvania 
in  abolishing  Slavery,  but  out  of  the  thirteen  then  com- 
posing the  Union,  seven  of  those  in  the  South  cherished 
it  as  an  institution  indisjjensable  to  their  welfare,  and 
many  Friends  resident  amongst  them,  in  order  to  be  free 
from  its  participation,  moved  off  into  the  new  settlements 
of  the  far  west,  where  they  are  to  be  found  amongst  the 


JOSEPH  STURGF.. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


205 


most  enterprising  and  successful  of  its  populations. 

Events  connected  with  the  extinction  of  Slavery 
throughout  the  vast  American  nation,  are  too  recent  to 
need  mention  here,  save  to  observe  that  the  sea  of  blood- 
shed -which  ultimately  swept  it  away  might  have  been 
avoided,  if  the  Rulers  and  people  would  have  given 
effect  to  the  earnest  remonstrances,  addressed  them 
from  time  to  time,  by  earnest  philanthropists  of  every 
shade  of  opinion,  but  by  none  more  persistently  than 
the  Friends.  "  Is  it  not  just  and  reasonable,"  they  had 
asked,  "  to  fear,  if  the  gentle  language  of  His  Spirit 
'  Let  this  people  go '  is  not  attended  to,  that  He  will,  by 
terrible  things  in  righteousness,  evince  His  sovereignty 
and  sustain  the  character  of  a  God  of  Justice,  Who  is 
no  respecter  of  persons." 

So  deaf  an  ear  was  turned  to  these  and  similar 
appeals,  that  when  Spurgeon  devoted  one  of  his  sermons 
to  the  cause  of  Emancipation  it  had  the  effect  of  stop- 
ping the  sale  of  his  Works,  that  had  had  till  then  an 
enormous  American  circulation.  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  " 
succeeded  better,  as  its  beneficial  influence  pervaded 
countries  both  old  and  new. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  learn — according  to  recent 
testimony — that  those  who  are  able  to  look  back  upon 
the  old  days  of  slave-owning,  with  all  its  cares  and 
responsibilities,  and  who  have  since  had  experience  of 
free  labour,  would  not,  if  they  could,  restore  the  old 
order  of  things,  for  wages  are  found  to  be  the  most 
effective  incentive  to  industry  ;  and  the  actual  cost  of 
free  labour  is  proved  to  be  less  than  was  that  of  slavery. 


206 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Such  was  Tvhat  the  friends  of  the  Negro  always  main- 
tained would  be  the  result  of  his  emancipation,  whilst 
its  opponents  were  declaring  he  was  but  an  animal 
that  would  only  work  under  fear  of  the  lash. 


Note. — It  will  be  obvious  tbat  no  attempt  has  been  made  to 
review  the  general  aspect  of  the  great  Anti-slavery  movement, 
but  only  to  note  some  aspects  of  the  important  share  Friends 
had  in  effecting  the  freedom  of  the  Slave. 

They  felt  from  the  first  he  was  entitled  as  a  fellow  creature 
to  their  moral  and  religious  care  which  developed  into  so  strong 
a  conviction  of  the  injustice  of  "  Man  holding  property  in  Man," 
tliat  they  cleared  themselves  of  any  participation  in  Slavery  ; 
r.nd  so  soon  as  this  was  the  case  their  energies  became  success- 
fully devoted  to  the  cause  of  universal  freedom. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  INSANE. 
MONG  efforts  made  by  Friends  for  mankind's  im- 


provement, those  on  behalf  of  the  Insane  deserve 
mention,  on  account  of  their  success  having  had  much 
influence,  in  producing  the  generally  kind  and  scientilic 
treatment,  now  accorded  to  such  as  are  mentally 
aflBicted. 

These  it  had  been  the  custom  to  treat  as  prisoners, 
rather  than  invalids,  from  the  belief  that  their  state  was 
more  akin  to  a  demoniacal  possession  than  suffering 
from  curable  disease.  This  popular  conception  of  the 
complaint  made  their  places  of  confinement,  with  their 
small  and  strongly  barred  windows,  to  resemble  jails 
rather  than  hospitals,  and  the  more  violent  cases  were 
loaded  with  irons,  or  sought  to  be  subdued  by  corporal 
chastisement — many  were  chained  as  for  life  like  wild 
beasts,  had  only  straw  for  bedding,  and  were  dealt  with  as 
those  hopelessly  lost  to  all  claims  on  humane  treatment. 

Under  circumstances  of  this  kind.  Friends  in  York 
had  had  their  sympathies  aroused  by  the  loss  of  one 
of  their  members  in  1791,  within  a  few  weeks  after 
her  admission  to  the  County  Asylum,  where  none  of 
her  relatives  had  been  allowed  to  visit  her.  The 
question  raised  itself  in  their  minds,  whether  such 
mejital  afflictions  could  not  be  treated  with  the  same 


208 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


judgment  and  tenderness  as  those  of  the  body,  instead 
of  the  barbarous  methods  then  in  practice,  "far  more 
calculated  to  depress  and  degrade  than  to  awaken  the 
slumbering  reason  or  correct  its  wild  hallucinations." 

Animated  by  thesesentiments,WilIiamTuke, '(a born 
leader  of  men)  induced  his  York  Friends  to  unite  with 
him  in  an  appeal  to  the  whole  Society,  for  the  establish- 
ment of  an  Institution  of  its  own,  where  the  experiment 
of  a  kind  and  curative  treatment  might  be  made. 

It  obtained  a  sufficient  response,  in  shareholders 
and  contributors,  to  enable  the  purchase  of  an  Estate  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  York,  and  the  erection  of  premises, 
to  which  was  given  the  more  agreeable  name  of  a 
"  Retreat,"  which  its  home-like  appearance  in  pleasantly 
arranged  grounds  well  supported. 

Here  by  the  adoption  of  a  system  of  classification, 
it  was  possible  to  apply  varied  treatment  to  the  different 
nature  of  the  cases,  all  of  whom  were  under  a  kind 
resident  physician's  care  as  his  patients,  rather  than 
prisoners.  Their  sleeping  and  day  apartments  were 
well  lighted  by,  to  all  appearance,  ordinary  sash  windows 
instead  of  grated  openings,  although  little  as  the  patients 
might  know  it  so  far  as  look  was  concerned,  the  sash 
bars  were  not  wood  but  iron  in  their  strength  ;  a 
fact  which  few  probably  tested,  for  the  absence  of 
apparent  iron  bars  produced  a  quieting  effect  on  their 
minds. 

°  "In  person,"  writes  a  coDtcmporary  of  William  Tuke  "ho 
hardly  reached  the  middle  size,  but  was  erect,  portly,  and  of  a 
fine  step.  He  had  a  noble  forehead,  an  eaf^le  eye,  and  a  com- 
manding voice,  and  his  mien  was  dignified  and  patriarchal." 


THE  FRIENDS. 


209 


Cases  of  cure  quickly  followed  on  these  humane 
arrangements,  which,  in  consequence,  began  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  Medical  profession  and  the  Public 
generally. 

Similar  but  independent  changes  were  being  made 
about  the  same  time  in  France,  where  Pinel,  a  bene- 
volent physician,  succeeded  in  obtaining  control  over 
one  of  the  largest  of  the  madhouses  in  Paris,  and  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  Faculty,  liberated  successfully 
some  fifty  cases,  till  then  thought  so  dangerous  as  to 
have  been  kept  heavily  chained  for  many  years.  Some 
of  them  had  even  murdered  their  keepers  in  spasms  of 
raging  madness,  but  now  with  regained  reason  went 
out  after  awhile,  freed  from  the  dense  mental  darkness 
or  fury  that  had  so  long  afflicted  them.  One  of  the 
worst  of  these,  it  is  interesting  to  find,  was  the  means 
of  saving  Pinel's  life,  by  rescuing  him  from  a  mob  that, 
in  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  was  hurrying 
him  to  death,  till  this  man  rushed  in  and  successfully 
pleaded  his  cause. 

One  of  William  Tuke's  grandsons,  largely  endowed 
with  his  ancestor's  gifts,  summarised  in  an  able  work 
published  in  1813,  what  had  been  the  results  of  this 
new  method  of  treating  the  Insane,  as  shewn  by  ex- 
perience gained  in  the  Retreat  during  some  15  years, 
which,  together  with  these  Foreign  instances,  so  much 
interested  the  medical  profession  and  local  authorities, 
as  to  gradually  work  that  entire  change  in  the  treat- 
ment of  those  mentally  afflicted,  which  now  happily 
prevails. 


210 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Besides  the  good  effect  of  this  publication,  Samuel 
Tuke  was  incidentally  the  means  of  influencing  the 
arrangements  adopted  in  the  large  pauper  Asylum  at 
Hanwell,  which  was  one  of  the  earliest  erected  on  the 
system  now  generally  adopted.  The  young  Friend 
whose  design  proved  successful  among  those  sent  in 
by  architects  in  the  competition  for  this  great  building, 
drew  his  inspiration  from  having  paid  Samuel  Tuke  a 
visit  at  York,  for  it  was  his  advice  and  information  that 
led  him  to  cast  aside  what  he  had  already  prepared, 
and  work  out  afresh  those  designs  which,  as  it  proved 
were  adopted  by  the  Magistrates  from  amongst  the  large 
number  sent  in  to  them,  by  members  of  the  architectural 
profession,  for  their  choice. 

The  Retreat  has  in  this  year  1892  completed  its 
centenary,  and  at  a  gathering  held  on  the  occasion  Dr. 
Clouston,  as  President  of  the  Medical  Psychological 
Association,  said  "  the  system  there  adopted  had  been 
the  key-note,  the  example  to  every  succeeding  hospital 
in  the  country.  There  was  no  doubt  that  York  was 
the  very  Mecca  of  the  mental  physician,"  and  if  so,  it 
may  be  asked,  was  not  William  Tuke  its  Prophet  ? 

Note. — It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Dr.  Conolly,  of  the 
Hanwell  Asylum  was  the  first  to  apply  the  system  so  thoroughly 
as  to  abolish  the  use  of  all  methods  of  physical  restraint,  and  rely 
on  constant  supervision,  constant  kindness,  and  firmness  alone. 
He  became  a  great  authority  on  the  construction  of  our  county 
asylums  and  their  management,  and  he  bore  his  testimony  that  to 
the  works  of  Pinel  and  Samuel  Tuke  "  society  was  indebted  for 
nearly  all  these  improvements." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


TESTIMONY  AGAINST  ALL  WAR. 

"  Are  Friends  faithful  in  our  testimony  against  bearing  arms, 
and  being  in  any  manner  concerned  in  the  militia,  in  privateers, 
letters  of  marque,  or  armed  vessels,  or  dealing  in  prize  goods?" — 
Query  as  formerly.  "  Are  you  faitliful  in  maintaining  our 
Christian  testimony  against  all  war,  as  inconsistent  with  the 
precepts  and  spirit  of  the  Gospel"? — Query  as  now  in  "  Christian 
Discipline." 

rriHE  uniform  testimony  borne  by  Friends  as  a  Society 
from  their  beginning,  against  any  participation 
in  War  of  all  kinds,  whetiier  offensive  or  defensive, 
deserves  fuller  mention  than  the  allusions  hitherto 
made,  from  its  having  been  so  diverse  to  the  views 
held  on  this  subject,  by  most,  if  not  all  other  religious 
communities. 

Wars  and  rumours  of  wars  abounded  when  their 
voice  was  first  raised  against  the  military  system  that 
had  made  of  Europe  one  great  battle-field,  and  reddened 
many  a  fair  landscape  in  England,  through  hard  fought 
contests  in  a  civil  war.  Against  such  scenes  of  strife 
the  ministers  of  various  forms  of  religion  were  so  far 
from  protesting,  as  to  have  themselves  taken  a  share  in 
them. 

France  had  seen  a  Cardinal  Richelieu  accouti  ed 
with  a  cuirass,  riding  at  the  head  of  royal  armies. 
Huguenot  preachers  carried  swords  as  well  as  Bibles, 


212 


THE  FRIENDS. 


and  made  no  reserve  in  using  the  one  with  the  assumed 
sanction  of  the  other  ;  nor  were  Puritan  ministers  loth 
to  regard  the  two-edged  sword  of  scripture,  as  indicative 
of  the  permitted  use  of  a  carnal  as  well  as  a  spiritual 
weapon,  and  colonels  and  captains  in  parliamentary 
forces  were  not  at  that  time  thought  out  of  place  in  a 
pulpit.  It  was  a  divinitj'  reader  of  Calvinistic  per- 
suasion who  wrote  "  That  it  is  lawful  to  defend  religion 
by  force  of  arms,  not  only  against  the  assaults  of  such 
foreign  nations  as  have  no  jurisdictixsn  over  us,  but 
also  against  any  part  of  the  same  commonwealth  which 
doth  endeavour  to  subvert  it." 

Remembering  the  high  sanction  thus  given  to  war, 
it  is  easier  to  understand  how  authorities  at  Derby 
should  have  felt  no  inconsistency  in  offering  liberty  to 
the  young  preacher  they  had  imprisoned,  if  he  would 
but  officer  one  of  the  troops  they  had  raised  for  the 
Commonwealth's  defence.  Thus  can  we  also  the  better 
appreciate  those  deeper  views  of  human  conduct  be- 
gotten in  George  Fox,  that  led  him  to  choose  a  continu- 
ance in  outward  bonds,  to  wounding  by  the  war  spirit 
that  love  he  felt  towards  all.  Not  that  he  enforced  this 
abstinence  on  others  as  any  outward  obligation,  but 
desired  to  see  it  arise  as  resulting  from  that  inward 
work  of  the  Lord's  Spirit  on  the  heart,  which  had 
led  him  in  this  emergency  to  resolve  "  that  he  could 
not  fight  against  any,  because  he  had  love  towards  all 
men." 

To  him  "  Love  your  enemies  "  was  not  so  much  a 
command  as  a  result  of  conscious  union  in  Spirit  with 


THE  FRIENDS. 


213 


Him,  Who  in  love  had  laid  down  His  life  for  all  men. 

Thus  on  an  occasion  when,  asked  by  a  convert  of 
gentlemanly  birth,  whether  in  becoming  a  Friend  the 
continuance  in  wearing  a  sword,  then  so  general  a 
pi-actice,  would  bo  thought  inconsistent,  George  Fox 
replied  "  Wear  it  as  long  as  thou  canst." 

William  Penn,  though  trained  at  foreign  courts  to 
a  skilled  use  of  weapons,  and  the  son  of  a  famous 
Admiral,  carried  these  views,  as  already  shown,  into 
such  successful  and  extensive  practice,  as  to  have  settled 
a  Colony  of  thousands  of  his  Friends,  like  minded  with 
himself,  amidst  savages  passionately  addicted  to  war, 
without  any  of  the  ordinary  methods  of  warlike 
defence  ;  he  built  no  Forts  in  Pennsylvania  nor  relied 
for  protection,  like  the  Founders  of  other  American 
settlements,  on  gunpowder  and  cannon,  and  whilst 
other  neighbouring  settlements  had  frequent  and 
sanguinary  Indian  wars,  none  sucTi  ever  visited  the  soil 
of  Pennsylvania,  during  the  seventy  years  that  the 
followers  of  William  Penn  controlled  its  government. 
Once,  it  is  said,  in  days  when  they  had  lost  this  control 
and  a  different  policy  had  led  to  Indian  complications, 
a  party  of  these  dusky  warriors  came  down  on  a  Friends' 
meeting,  breathing  fire  and  slaughter,  but  over-awed  at 
the  sight  of  such  peaceful  solemnity,  put  aside  their 
weapons  and  their  fury,  and  sat  out  the  meeting  as 
worshippers  themselves. 

"  These  Indian  chiefs  with  battle  bows  unstrung, 
Strong,  hero-limbed,  like  those  whom  Homer  aung."' 

Friends'  influence  with  Indians  has  been  shown  in 


214 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


many  ways — and  their  missionary  efforts  amongst  them 
are  at  the  present  time  some  of  the  most  successful. 
Not  a  few  have  become  members  of  the  Society,  and 
several  have  proved  themselves  acceptable  ministers  of 
the  gospel.  Xot  a  very  long  while  back  when  two  Tribes 
were  at  deadly  feud  with  one  another  through  mutual 
reprisals,  a  party  of  Friends  hearing  a  battle  was 
imminent,  advanced  to  meet  one  of  these,  and  found 
them  gathered  and  painted  for  the  contest,  but  by  dis- 
course and  prayer  in  a  solemn  assembly  induced  them 
to  return,  although  it  was  believed  at  the  time  their 
enemies  had  set  out  to  attack  them,  and  so  they  had — 
not  once  but  twice  started  with  such  intent — and  yet 
had  gone  back.  Why  ?  let  those  who  can  believe  and 
trust  in  the  Lord  of  Peace,  determine  for  themselves. 

Friends  in  Ireland  of  various  times  were  in  the 
difficult  position  of  living  in  a  country  where,  without 
any  Official  influence,  they  were  exposed  to  all  the  re- 
sults of  its  unhappy  condition  as  the  theatre  of  war,  yet 
true  to  their  principles  they  neither  sought  protection 
from  either  of  the  contending  armies,  nor  attempted  to 
defend  themselves  by  use  of  weapons  from  the  ruffianly 
bands  that  roved  unchecked  through  the  land,  and 
amidst  the  spoil  of  goods  and  property,  and  perils  by 
night  and  day  to  themselves  and  their  families,  none  of 
them,  as  we  have  already  seen,  lost  their  lives  through- 
out these  times  of  long  continued  bloodshed  and 
horrible  murders. 

The  English  Friends,  though  spared  from  scenes  of 
actual  warfare,  have,  nevertheless,  had  to  suffer  in 


THE  FRIENDS. 


215 


various  ways  from  time  to  time  in  the  maintenance  of 
their  peace  principles,  especially  when  any  want  of 
sharing  in  warlike  preparations  seemed  to  lay  them 
open  to  a  charge  of  disloyalty,  or  lack  of  patriotism. 
Such  was  the  public  feeling  towards  them  during  the 
rebellion  of  1745,  until  they  found  means  to  give  some 
lielp  in  a  manner  which  involved  no  sanction  to  war, 
yet  showed  a  Christian  love  for  the  soldiers.  Friends 
discovered  these  were  being  sent  northward,  during  an 
inclement  winter  season,  without  any  warm  clothing 
under  their  regimentals,  which  serious  deficiency  they 
proceeded  to  remedy  at  their  own  cost,  by  furnishing 
every  soldier  with  a  flannel  waistcoat.  It  was  the 
saving,  no  doubt,  of  many  a  life,  whilst  it  assured  their 
detractors  that  an  abstention  from  warlike  proceedings 
had  not  arisen  through  lack  of  loyalty,  or  want  of 
patriotism,  but  solely  from  a  religious  conviction  of  the 
unlawfulness  of  war  to  a  Christian.' 

Again,  amidst  the  country's  preparations  for  armed 
defence  against  Napoleon's  threatened  invasion.  Friends 
as  a  Society  remained  firm  in  a  conscientious  refusal 
to  join  or  subscribe  for  the  Volunteer  forces  then  being 
raised  ;  and  preferred,  as  we  have  shown,  to  suffer  the 
secession  of  very  many  of  their  wealthier  members — 
who  were  not  sharers  in  these  views— a  loss  the  com- 
munity long  felt  in  its  diminished  social  position,  but 
it  demonstrated  afresh  the  firmness  of  its  adhesion  to 
this  view  of  Gospel  truth.  And  here  also  in  this 
national  emergency  they  prepared  themselves  to  serve 
—  if  war  had  broken  out — on  ambulance  corps  or  in 


216 


THE  FRIENDS. 


hospitals,  whilst  those  at  the  expected  scenes  of  in- 
vasion, were  enrolled  as  caretakers  over  women  and 
children,  in  case  of  their  flight  to  a  place  of  safety. 

This  abstinence  from  warlike  proceedings  had  its 
accompaniment  in  a  refusal  to  unite  in  any  public  re- 
joicings over  victories  gained  in  battle  by  land  or  sea, 
and  at  much  risk  to  property  from  excited  mobs  their 
houses  showed  no  lights  amid  general  illuminations  ; 
yet  the  well-known  benevolence  of  their  owners  oft 
spared  them  from  the  smashings  of  glass  which  few 
others  escaped  who  had  not  lights  in  their  windows. 

The  Crimean  War  of  1854  was  another  season  of 
public  excitement,when  obloquy  fell  on  all  who  could 
not  approve  of  this  sanguinary  effort  to  check  Russia's 
designs  on  the  East.  In  the  hope  of  preventing  its 
outbreak,  three  leading  Friends  undertook  that  long 
and  toilsome  journey  all  the  way  to  St.  Petersburg,  to 
interview  the  Czar  himself  and  predispose  him  to 
peace.  Although  the  hopes  awakened  by  his  favour- 
able reception  of  them,  vanished  as  he  learnt  the 
furiously  warlike  tone  of  the  English  press,  yet  this 
loving  effort  of  Joseph  Sturge,  Robert  Charleton,  and 
Henry  Pease  has  borne  more  fruit  than  might — from 
its  failure  at  the  time — have  been  expected.  Public 
attention  has  become  aroused  to  adopt  means  for  the 
avoidance  of  war,  as  so  happily  shown  by  the  substi- 
tution of  Arbitration,  in  various  critical  cases  of  national 
disputes  that  have  subsequently  occurred. 

The  solicitude  of  Friends  to  make  restitution  in 
cases  where,  unauthorised  by  themselves,  their  agents 


THE  FRIENDS. 


217 


may  have  inflicted  loss  on  others  during  times  of  -war, 
has  had  several  interesting  illustrations.  One  was  that 
of  the  Fox  family  of  shipowners  at  Falmouth,  who  had 
advertised  in  France  for  any  who  might  have  been 
losers  from  the  capture  of  a  vessel  by  one  of  their  own 
captains,  against  his  instructions,  which  so  impressed 
some  Frenchmen  in  the  South  of  France,  as  to  lead  to 
a  correspondence  that  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a 
Community,  in  religious,  fellowship  with  English 
Friends,  that  lasts  to  this  day,  and  has  furnished  several 
bright  examples  of  religiously  peaceable  fellow- 
members. 

Another  was  from  an  equally  unauthorised  capture 
of  a  Dutch  vessel  by  an  English  one,  in  which  a 
London  Friend  was  part  owner,  and  in  this  case  long 
continued  continental  wars  delayed  any  attempt  at 
restitution,  but  the  money  the  Friend  had  received  as 
his  share  in  the  prize  was  kept  so  -well  invested  that, 
when  at  last  all  sufferers  who  could  be  found  were  paid 
with  interest  up  to  date,  a  balance  still  remained  which 
became  applied,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  Dutch  Friend,  to 
the  establishment  of  a  free  Infant  School  in  Amsterdam, 
which  was  the  port  from  whence  the  captured  ship  had 
sailed.  It  was  the  earliest  school  of  the  kind  there, 
and  for  nearly  a  century  has  it  pursued  its  useful 
course  in  a  building  named  the  "Holland's  "Welfare," 
which  it  deserves,  not  only  as  having  been  that  of  the 
captured  vessel,  but  also  through  its  past  and  present 
benefits  to  the  little  ones  in  a  poor  quarter  of  the  chief 
city  of  that  country. 


218 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Cases  of  individual  adherence  to  peace  principles 
at  the  loss  of  profit  to  themselves,  are  numerous  both 
in  England  and  America,  two  of  which  may  receive 
allusion — one  of  them  being  William  Allen,  who  as  a 
manufacturing  chemist,  courteously  declined  the  ad- 
vantageous offer,  Alexander  of  Russia  made  him,  of  the 
exclusive  purveyorship  of  medicines  for  the  Russian 
Army  ;  another  is  that  of  F.  T.  King,  of  Baltimore, 
who  had  concluded  a  good  bargain  for  disposal  of  some 
unsaleable  goods,  but  when  the  would-be  customer 
happened  to  remark  that  they  would  answer  his  pur- 
pose for  an  Army  Contract  connected  with  the  Mexican 
War,  "  Then,"  said  Francis  King,  "  there's  no  bargaiii 
between  us,  for  no  goods  of  mine,  however  much  I 
may  want  to  be  rid  of  them,  shall,  knowingly,  go  to- 
wards what,  as  war,  is  contrary  to  my  conscientious 
convictions." 

Of  German  Friends  various  cases  could  be  men- 
tioned, of  those  who  preferred  to  suffer  whatever  could 
be  inflicted  of  cruel  imprisonment  rather  than  violate 
their  conscientious  scruples  by  learning  military  drill  ; 
but  here,  as  in  France,  these  penalties  have  been  chiefly 
avoided  by  the  emigration  of  the  young  men  Friends 
to  avoid  conscription,  which  is  a  chief  cause  of  the 
great  reduction  of  the  Society  in  these  countries. 

The  comparatively  recent  conflict  between  North 
and  South  in  America,  brought  Friends,  as  might  be 
expected,  to  a  practical  test  of  their  anti-war  principles. 
In  the  Northern  States,  several  of  those  in  high  positions 
were  either  connected  with  the  Society  by  descent,  or 


THE  FRIENDS. 


219 


were  too  -well  acquainted  with  the  conscientious 
character  of  its  objections,  to  press  for  any  other 
assistance  than  what  was  willingly  rendered  in  hos- 
pital and  ambulance  service,  and  the  more  the  public 
felt  that  the  war's  existence  arose  from  opposition  to 
Slavery,  the  less  could  they  charge  Friends  with  want 
of  patriotism,  who  they  knew  had  always  protested 
against  this  as  an  iniquitous  system.  In  the  South  it 
was  different,  yet  the  Friends  there  proved  even  firmer 
in  the  maintenance  of  peace  principles  than  those  of 
the  North,  where,  as  in  England,  some  of  the  wealthier 
sort  gave  way,  and  some  of  their  young  men  served  in 
the  ranks.  Down  South  there  were  remarkable  pre- 
servations. Whole  villages  of  Friends  were  left  un- 
molested in  the  midst  of  desolations,  and  just  as  the 
armies  of  Grant  and  Lee  would  have  closed  in  deadly 
struggle  over  lands  studded  with  Friends'  hamlets, 
there  came  the  Surrender  and  the  final  Peace. 

As  the  strife  had  deepened,  the  South  called  every 
available  youth  to  their  ranks,  and  some  of  the  young 
Friend  farmers  found  their  refusal  to  bear  arms  in- 
volved cruelties,  of  which  one  case  cannot  be  passed 
without  notice.  The  musket  was  strapped  to  a  firmly 
resisting  youth,  and  he  was  kept  walking  by  prick  •  of 
bayonet  till  he  dropped  from  fatigue.  Much  else  av;  a 
tried  to  make  of  him  a  soldier,  but  all  in  vain,  and  a 
court-martial  condemned  him  to  be  shot.  As  he  was 
walked  to  the  fatal  spot,  the  firing  party  heard  him  say 
with  pious  resignation,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do,"  and  when  the  officer  gave  the 


220 


THE  FRIENDS. 


word,  not  a  man  would  pull  the  trigger.  Enraged  at 
-heir  refusal  he  rode  at  the  youth,  floored  him  with  a 
blow  from  the  flat  of  his  sword,  and  tried  to  make  his 
horse  finish  the  affair  by  trampling  on  him.  But  the 
animal  jumped  hither  and  thither  without  touching  the 
prostrate  form,  and  whilst  he  was  thus  urging  his 
charger  the  trumpet  sounded  for  what  proved  the 
sanguinary  battle  of  Gettysburg,  and  that  officer  was 
one  of  the  first  who  fell.  The  Friend  became  a 
prisoner  of  war  to  the  Northern  army,  was  recognised 
as  having  been  a  non-combatant,  and  released. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


IXDUSTEIAL,  COMMERCIAL,  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCE. 

"Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment,  inmeteyard,  in 
weight,  or  in  measure.  Just  balances,  just  weights,  a  just  ephah. 
and  a  just  hin  shall  ye  have." — Lev.  xix.  36. 

rnHE  necessary  prominence  given  in  any  history  of 
Friends  to  incessant  and  far  extended  labours  of 
their  first  missionary  preachers,  should  never  cause 
forgetf ulness  of  the  characteristic  quietness  and  indus- 
try in  outward  callings,  of  those  gathered  by  them  to 
depend  for  spiritual  comfort  in  waiting  upon  the  One 
true  Comforter  of  souls. 

The  fiercest  persecution  and  most  brutal  treatment 
produced,  as  we  have  seen,  no  resistance — and  when 
impounded  like  cattle  in  the  County  Gaols — those 
who  were  handicraftsmen  worked  diligently  at  their 
trades,  and  others  like  Samuel  Bownas — though  so 
eminent  as  a  preacher — learnt  as  he  did,  to  make  shoes 
for  their  support  during  a  long  imprisonment. 

So  soon  therefore  as  wiser  counsels  in  Government 
put  an  end  to  this  harass  of  tender  consciences,  there 
flowed  into  Trade  and  Commerce  a  stream  of  active, 
intelligent  and  conscientious  workers,  anxious,  above 
all  thoughts  of  gain,  that  strict  integrity  should  be 
observed  in  business  dealings  with  their  fellow  men. 

It  was  chiefly  in  the  conduct  of  business  affairs 


'.) 


222 


THE  FRIENDS. 


such  conld  be  shown,  as  all  avenues  to  Civic  or 
Government  office  remained  closed  in  times  such  as 
these,  w  hen  by  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts,  no  Non- 
conformist could  be  associated  with  any  Corporation, 
and  all  Government  employments,  even  to  those  of  a 
country  postmaster,  were  confined  to  such  as  would 
take  the  Sacramental  Bread  and  Wine  according  to  the 
Church  of  England. 

Only  by  slow  stages  after  the  passing  of  the 
Reform  Bill  have  these  social  barriers  been  removed, 
and  only  in  recent  years  have  University  gates  been 
forced,  so  as  to  make  educational  honours  at  Cambridge 
and  Oxford  open  to  all.  Whilst  such  religious  boj-- 
cotting  lasted,  it  had  the  inevitable  tendency  to  direct 
into  the  busy  walks  of  Trade  and  Manufacture,  a 
superior  class  of  mind  that  might  not  otherwise  have 
turned  to  them. 

Another  circumstance  which  contributed  at  this 
period  to  swell  the  industrial  life  of  our  Towns,  was  the 
large  number  of  young  and  vigourous  yeomanry,  who 
found  that  Friends'  conscientious  objection  to  tithes 
made  land-owners,  under  clerical  influence,  less  willing 
to  grant  fresh  tenure  of  farms,  although  their  parents 
might  be  still  holding  under  them,  as  were  their 
ancestors  for  many  previous  generations. 

To  this  stream  of  active  industrial  life  the  Friend 
brought  enterprise  and  intelligence,  and  also  a  strict 
integrity,  shown  by  his  avoiding  the  practice  then 
common  of  bargaining  with  every  fresh  customer,  and 
having,  instead,  a  fixed  price  for  his  Avares.    Also  in  a 


AMELIA  OPIE. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


223 


care  that  all  goods  sold  in  bulk  were  fully  up  to 
quality  of  samples,  thus  making  trade  an  honourable 
and  not  a  cozening  pursuit.  He  conducted  it  also  with 
an  enterprise,  conspicuous  among  many  other  ways,  by 
his  travelling  for  custom  in  a  manner  which  is  said  to 
have  anticipated,  if  it  did  not  originate,  the  fraternity 
of  commercial  travellers. 

Whilst  diligent  in  business,  a  fervency  of  spirit 
marked  his  conduct  that  best  things  might  be  kept 
uppermost.  His  shop  would  be  closed  during  busy 
hours,  to  attend  his  mid-week  meeting,  and  his  time 
would  be  freely  given  to  his  Monthly  and  Quarterly 
Assembly,  to  serve  on  Committees  and  occasionally  to 
go  up  to  London  for  the  Yearly  gathering. 

Such  conduct,  though  in  a  worldly  view  little 
likely  to  ensure  success,  led  nevertheless  to  that  confi- 
dence of  customers  and  neighbours,  which  made 
Friends'  establishments  generally  rank  among  the  most 
prosperous  in  the  cities  and  towns  ;  even  to  becomiDg 
transformed  from  traders  and  shopkeepers  into  the 
Bankers  of  the  place.  This  is  the  origin  of  many  a 
leading  and  wealthy  financial  firm  of  the  present  day. 
Neighbours,  in  times  when  banking  facilities  were  little 
known  in  provincial  towns,  would  entrust  these  con- 
scientious ones  with  their  savings,  or  look  to  them  for 
some  temporary  loan,  until  such  transactions  in  their 
volume  became  the  chief  business  of  those,  who  had 
thus  carried  their  religion  over  and  yet  into  all  their 
commercial  operations. 

Whilst  some  were  thus  transformed  in  character, 


224 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


others  became  enlarged  in  reputation  ;  such  for  example 
raised  the  chemical  firms  of  Allen  and  Hanbury,  or 
Corbyns,  or  of  J.  Bell  &  Son,  as  safe  to  be  trusted  at  a 
time  when  much  careless  dispensing  of  drugs  prevailed. 
Thus  also  the  chemical  factories  of  the  Howards,  the 
originals  of  which  concerns  were  Friends  of  a  high 
order  of  mind,  eminent  in  their  day  not  only  as  trades- 
men, but  as  Ministers  or  Elders  in  the  Society  they 
loved  so  dearly  and  served  so  well. 

The  Queen  still  has  her  damasks  and  table-linen 
from  a  firm  commenced  by  a  Friend  so  particular  in 
having  his  goods  up  to  quality  that  if  in  any  fine 
cambrics  he  had  sold,  the  slightest  flaw  had  been 
found,  he  would  change  it  with  a  "  thank  thee  "  for 
having  had  his  attention  drawn  to  it.  Industries  of 
all  kinds  prospered  in  their  hands  :  the  calicoes  of  a 
Hoyle  commanded  the  market,  and  the  hats  of  a 
Christy.  Their  cotton  and  weaving  factories  increased 
in  number,  volume,  and  success,  under  generations  of 
Ashworths,  Brights,  Crewdsons,  Priestmans,  and  a  host 
of  others  in  Manchester,  Liverpool,  Bradford,  Birming- 
ham, or  other  provincial  towns. 

Friends  have  made  themselves  especially  con- 
spicuous in  the  tea  and  cocoa  trades,  and  matches, 
biscuits,  starch,  phosphorous  powder  blue,  and  various 
other  articles  of  food  or  daily  use  have  become,  under 
their  financial  skill,  the  basis  of  gigantic  commercial 
undertakings. 

The  modern  system  of  lacquering  brasswork  was 
long  in  the  hands  of  a  trio  of  brother  Friends  ;  Sterrys 


THE  FRIENDS. 


225 


and  Sturges  were  largely  in  the  oil  trade,  and  with 
Bome  families  of  these  was  the  manufacture  of  the  only 
wax  candles  that  would  bux'n  without  snuffing. 

Some  of  the  largest  silversmiths,  such  as  the  Gold- 
smith's Alliance,  have  had  a  similar  origin.  For  clocks 
Friend  "  Quare  "  had  in  the  days  William  the  Third 
a  high  reputation,  and  modern  times  have  recognised 
the  ingenuity  of  an  Ogden  or  a  Simmons  in  the  samo 
horological  department. 

On  the  Stock  Exchange,  in  the  Corn  Market,  in 
Lloyds  Marine,  many  have  become  prominent,  of  which 
the  Harris  family  in  Mark  Lane,  Fester  and  Braithwaito 
at  Capel  Court,  or  Jansons  at  Lloyds,  may  be  taken  as 
typical  instances.  They  have  been  some  of  the  earliest 
promoters  of  provincial  and  urban  gas  and  water  com- 
panies, and  have  made  efficient  members  of  Boar?!s 
of  Health,  and  in  conduct  of  local  sanitary  affairs  or 
improvements.  In  Insurance  they  have  a  life  office  oi 
their  own,  which,  under  the  name  of  the  Fi-iends'  Pro- 
vident Institution,  enjoys  an  exceptional  reputation 
for  successful  management. 

Very  early  was  a  spirit  of  enterprise  observable 
amongst  them  as  builders  of  ships,  and  opsners  up  of 
trade  especially  from  northern  ports.  It  was  a  Friend 
shipowner  of  Whitby,  who  first  fostered  the  genius  of 
Captain  Cook,  who  never  after  would  sail  on  his 
adventurous  voyages  in  any  vessel  that  had  not 
come  from  his  Friend  "  Walker's"  Whitby  shipyard, 
and  a  Friend  Lucas  was  one  of  the  first  to  follow 
up  this  opening  of  a  new  Ocean  by  despatching  whalers 


226 


THE  FRIENDS. 


thither  with  the  results  of  whose  captures  in  oil  he 
contracted  to  lighten  London's  darkness. 

None  knew  how  to  provide  the  farmers  with  an 
enduring  ploughshare  until  a  blacksmith  Friend  so 
made  them  of  "  chilled  "  iron  as  to  lay  the  first  stone 
of  the  engineering  works  of  the  Ipswich  Ransomes,  and 
until  Friend  Abraham  had  wrested  the  secret  of  casting 
in  iron  from  the  Dutch,  England  had  no  such  foun- 
dries as  he  opened  in  Coalbrookdale.  Nor  were  our 
Ijorcelain  manufacturers  able  to  compete  with  foreign 
rivals  until  Friend  Cookworthy  discovered  for  them 
the  china  clay  of  Cornwall. 

Then  in  a  time  when  housewives  depended  on 
their  own  home-brewed  ale,  or  their  stock  of  ginger 
or  gooseberry  wines,  the  Friends  started  establishments 
with  machinery  and  appliances  on  scientific  principles, 
learnt,  it  has  been  said,  from  the  Dutch,  which  soon 
made  them  known  in  all  cities  and  towns  as  maltsters, 
brewers,  and  importers,  and  also  as  dealers  in  the  pro- 
duce of  foreign  vineyards,  a  trade  and  manufacture  pur- 
sued with  much  evidence  of  what  Dr.  Johnson  called 
"  the  potentiality  of  growing  rich,"  until  the  pre- 
valence of  total  abstinence  principles  led  to  their 
relinquishment.  Remembrance  now  only  points  to 
such  firms  as  the  Walkers,  the  Aliens  of  RatclifT, 
the  Hanburys  &  Buxtons  of  Spital fields,  or  the  Bar- 
clays and  Perkins  of  Southwark,  and  in  like  manner 
conspicuous  amongst  those  thus  engaged  over  England, 
where  also  Friends  would  be  found  among  the  more 
prosperous  of  local  Woolstaplers,  Millers,  Fellmongers, 
or  workers  of  Tanneries. 


THE  FRIENDS 


227 


Commercial  Finance  is  indebted  to  Friends  for 
originating  the  modern  system  of  Bill  Discounting 
through  an  Overend  and  a  Richardson,  two  North 
Country  lads,  who  commenced  the  plan  now  universally 
adopted,  which,  when  associated  with  the  Norwich 
Gurneys,  developed  under  their  management  into  the 
financial  operations  of  an  Overend,  Gurney  &  Co. 

It  was  a  Friend,  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  day 
selected  for  an  attempt  at  extricating  Indian  Finances 
from  their  confusion,  which  task,  although  it  proved 
too  much  for  the  constitution,  would  probably  not  have 
been  found  beyond  the  ability  of  a  James  Wilson,  who 
lost  his  life  in  the  toil  it  cost  him. 

The  Railway  System  may  almost  be  said  to  owe  its 
existence  to  their  enterprise,  for  Friend  Edward  Pease 
was  the  first  to  discover,  and  the  most  persistent  in 
fostering  the  railway  genius  of  a  George  Stevenson  ; 
and,  although  this  is  no  history  of  the  Rail,  it  may  be 
permitted  to  narrate  in  what  way  he  became  acquainted 
with,  and  to  have  such  faith  in,  the  future  Constructor 
of  Railways.  His  business  was  that  of  a  Woolstapler 
at  Darlington,  where  he  had  also  become  a  Coal  Owner, 
and,  with  those  thus  associated  with  him,  he  had  con- 
ceived an  idea  of  having  a  tramway  from  the  Darlington 
Pits  to  the  Port  of  Stockton,  some  40  miles  distant,  and 
thus  save  the  great  charges  made  for  carriage  by  canal 
or  road.  For  this  purpose  they  formed  a  Company, 
which,  although  it  engaged  some  of  the  leading 
Engineers,  had  failed  in  all  endeavours  for  an  Act  of 
Parliament.    Matters  being  in  this  state,  h^  was  one 


228 


THE  FRIENDS. 


morning  disturbed  from  his  writing  by  an  announce- 
ment that  a  stranger  in  his  passage  wished  to  see 
him.  This  proved  to  be  a  tall  man  of  burly  appearance 
in  a  furry  cap  with  a  rough  shawl  wound  around  his 
neck,  whose  abrupt  announcement  of  his  business  as 
having  "  heard  you  wants  a  rail  made  and  I  be  come 
to  do  it,"  put  the  dignified  courtesy  of  Edward  Pease 
to  no  little  strain.  With  a  suppressed  smile,  he  sug- 
gested that,  although  on  the  subject  of  his  call  he  could 
say  nothing  to  him,  he  was  welcome  to  some  refresh- 
ment in  the  kitchen  after  so  long  a  walk,  and  thus, 
would  Edward  Pease  add,  I  returned  to  my  pen  ;  but 
my  thoughts  failed  me  ;  the  thread  of  the  important 
subject  could  not  be  recovered.  I  felt  I  must  see 
the  stranger  again,  and  into  my  kitchen  I  went 
to  find  George — for  it  was  none  other  than  he — 
making  a  most  hearty  meal  off  my  bread  and  cheese, 
and  whilst  slice  after  slice  vanished,  my  talk  with 
him  as  I  sat  on  the  kitchen  dresser,  convinced  me  of 
his  being  the  man  we  wanted,  and  my  brother  directors 
with  whom  an  appointment  was  then  made  were,  after 
their  first  feelings  of  surprise,  equally  assured  of  the 
same.  Many  and  racy  were  the  anecdotes  Edward 
Pease  would  tell  of  their  after  experience  of  George 
Stephenson's  sagacity  and  honesty,  only  one  of  which 
can  be  here  inserted,  as  it  relates  to  the  birth  of  the 
Locomotive.  No  idea  of  this  was  entertained  until 
he  had  asked  them  to  come  and  see  a  fire-horse  he  had 
made,  which  would,  he  declared,  answer  better'  than 
the  living  animals  they  had   intended  to  depend 


THE  FRIENDS. 


229 


upon  for  hauling  their  coal  on  the  rail.  So  with  a 
brother  director,  Edward  Pease  found  himself  one 
morning  mounted  behind  this  fiery  charger,  whilst  its 
Inventor  ran  alongside  poking  with  a  long  rod  at  the 
furnace  bars  to  keep  up  steam,  and  there  he  acquired 
such  confidence  in  its  future  as  to  provide  capital  for 
what  became  the  great  engine  works  of  Stephenson 
and  Co.,  though  he  would  naively  add,  that  at  that  time 
it  couldn't  go  as  far  as  George  ran  "  with  all  his 
poking."  Edward  Pease  was  become  fully  fifty  years 
old  before  he  thus  embarked  on  that  railway  enter- 
prise which,  during  the  more  than  forty  years  of  his 
after  life,  he  saw  develop  to  so  wonderful  an  extent. 
In  humbly  reviewing  his  own  share  in  this,  he  would 
acknowledge  to  the  feeling  that  he  was  working  not  so 
much  for  himself  as  for  his  fellow-men,  and  in  solemn 
tones  would  add,  "  in  all  my  opportunities  for  railway 
speculation  I  never  sold  a  share— and  in  all  my  great 
anxieties  of  Parliamentary  contests  I  never  missed 
attending  a  mid-week  meeting." 

Well  might  Friends  come  to  have  a  leading  share 
in  fostering  Railway  undertakings.  Well  might  the 
first  line  opened  from  Stockton  to  Darlington  be  called 
theirs.  They  were  the  backbone  also  of  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  line  ;  it  was  Friend  Ellis  of  Leicester  who 
started  the  now  great  Midland,  and  it  was  he  who,  as 
its  Chairman,  gained  for  it  the  Bristol  and  Gloucester 
by  offering  it  a  fixed  rate  of  interest  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility when  the  possession  of  this  line  had  to  be  contested 
with  the  Great  Western  in  the  "  battle  of  the  gauges." 


230 


THE  FRIENDS. 


This  master  stroke  of  financial  policy  eventually 
settled  that  predominance  of  the  Narrow  over  the 
Broad  Guage,  which  has  now  worked  out  the  latter's 
recent  extinction.  Several  Friends,  such  as  his  son, 
Edward  Shipley  Ellis,  and  William  Hutchinson,  have 
most  ably  filled  the  chair  of  this  extensive  undertaking, 
and  much  does  the  vast  North  Eastern  system  owe  to  past 
and  present  Managers  of  the  same  religious  fraternity. 
In  the  matter  of  rails.  Friend  Ransome  devised  the  best 
form  of  chair  for  holding  them,  and  Charles  May  the 
compressed  oak  trenails  that  pin  them  to  the  ties. 

When  the  lines  began  working  under  a  cumbrous 
system  of  passenger-booking,  continued  from  coaching 
days,  it  was  Friend  Edmundson  who  devised  the  present 
effective  system  of  railway  tickets,  and  likewise  in- 
vented the  machine  in  general  use  for  stamping  them, 
and  it  is  Friend  Bradshaw  who  still  enliglitens  the 
Public  as  to  train  movements  by  his  Time  Tables. 

The  Legislative  Councils  of  the  Nation  have,  ever 
since  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  and  the  acceptance 
of  Affirmation  instead  of  Oath,  had  members  of  the 
Society  more  or  less  numerous  or  prominent  amongst 
them,  of  whom  the  father  of  the  present  Sir  Joseph 
Pease  was  the  first  to  take  a  seat,  and  John  Bright  to 
become  eminent  as  an  orator  and  statesman. 

This  influence  on  daily  life,  far  from  being  con- 
fined to  its  material  or  industrial  advantage,  has  been 
felt  also  in  Science,  Literature  and  Art. 

To  John  Dalton,  whose  livelihood  was  gained 
chiefly  as  a  teacher.  Science  is  indebted  for  the  know- 


BENJAMIN   WLbl,   IKEblDEM   OF    THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY. 
(from  the  PAINTING  BY  GILBERT  STUART). 


THE  FRIENDS. 


231 


ledge  of  the  law  of  atomic  proportions,  and  in  Dr. 
Thomas  Young,  who  came  to  London  when  a  lad,  from 
a  west  country  home,  in  the  plainest  of  Friendly  attire, 
there  developed  a  philosopher,  renowned  not  only  for 
his  decipherment  of  hieroglyphics,  but  for  a  theory  on 
the  subject  of  Light,  that  made  Helmholtz  declare, 
"  The  greatest  discovery  I  ever  made  was  that  of  the 
genius  and  writings  of  Thomas  Young.  I  consider  him 
the  greatest  man  of  science  that  has  appeared  in  the 
history  of  this  planet." 

The  application  of  an  achromatic  principle  to  the 
lenses  of  the  Microscope,  which  transformed  it  from  a 
mere  philosophic  toy  to  an  instrument  of  indispensable 
use  to  the  medical  faculty,  is  due  to  the  sagacity  of 
Joseph  Jackson  Lister,  whose  leisure  hours  from  trade 
were  largely  devoted  to  scientific  pursuits. 

In  medical  and  surgical  practice,  such  names  as 
those  of  Doctors  Fothergill,  Lettsom,  Pope,  Hodgkin, 
Peacock,  or  Wilson  Fox  as  physicians,  and  Lister, 
Hutchinson,  Beck,  or  Godlee  as  surgeons  are  among  the 
foremost. 

Little  as  Friends  themselves  have  occasion  forcourts 
of  litigation,  there  are  those  among  them  who,  like 
Phillips,  Harrison,  Hodgkin,  Godlee,  Braithwaite,  have 
been  or  are  still  known  as  "  learned  in  the  law,"  chiefly 
as  chamber  counsel,  whilst  in  a  member  of  the  ancient 
Friend  family  of  Frys,  the  Society  has  contributed 
one  of  its  ablest  judges  to  the  High  Court  of  Appeal. 

In  Art  it  has  given  to  the  Royal  Academy  a 
president  in  West,  and  to  the  Architects  one  in  Water- 


232 


THE  FRIENDS. 


house,  whilst  others  have  like  Briggs  been  among  its 
Academicians. 

To  the  Engineers  it  has  contributed  more  of 
workers  than  originators,  yet  it  was  through  the 
hydraulic  inventions  of  the  brothers  Tangye  that 
Cleopatra's  Needle  was  upraised,  and  through  the  skill 
of  a  Dixon  that  it  was  poised  on  its  pedestal  by  the 
banks  of  the  Thames. 

In  literature  the  pens  of  William  and  Mary  Howitt 
were  seldom  other  than  successfully  employed  through- 
out their  long  lives.  Mrs.  Ellis  was  a  well  known 
authoress,  and  a  Seebohm  by  his  "  Oxford  Reformers," 
and  Dr.  T.  Hodgkin  by  his  "  Italy  and  Her  Invaders," 
have  taken  good  rank  among  our  present  historians.  It 
needs  two  huge  octavo  volumes  for  a  Joseph  Smith  to 
chronicle  the  works  and  their  various  editions  which 
Friends  have  produced,  treating  on  many  subjects 
besides  those  of  biography  or  doctrinals. 

In  poetry  there  has  been  a  Wiffen  with  his  trans- 
lation of  Tasso,  a  Hurnard  of  Lexden,  a  John  Scott  of 
Amwell,  an  Amelia  Opie  with  her  Lyrics,  a  "William 
Ball  with  his  epigrammatic  verse,  and  the  ever  "  busy 
bee,"  as  Charles  Lamb  quizzically  called  his  friend 
Bernard  Barton,  whose  melodious  muse,  though  copious, 
falls  below  that  high  rank  Whittier's  is  universally 
allowed  to  have  reached.  Mention  should  be  made,  too, 
of  *'  Sketches  of  Rural  Life  "  by  the  brothers  Lucas,  and 
published  volumes  of  poetry  or  prose,  by  Hunton, 
Knight,  Compton,  Budge,  Ball,  Ashby,  Sterry,  and  many 
others,  more  or  less  connected  with  Friends,  whose 


BERNARD  BARTON. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


23'6 


works  await  the  addition  of  posterity's  opinion  to  their 
present  acceptance. 

Here  it  may  be  suitable  to  remark  how  many  of 
those  who  have  attained  or  are  now  in  positions  of 
eminence,  have  come  by  birth  out  of  Friends'  families 
in  more  or  less  direct  descent.  Such  was  the  case  witli 
Macaulay,  whose  mother  was  a  Friend ;  and  "Walter  Scott 
had  a  similar  though  remoter  relation  to  the  Society  ; 
the  same  may  be  said  of  Lord  Lyndhurst;  General 
Howard,  of  the  American  War  ;  and  President  Lincoln. 
Of  this  stock  came  Dr.  Tregelles,  the  Biblical  Scholar  ; 
Dr.  Birch,  tutor  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  ;  Dr.  Pritchard, 
author  of  "  The  Unity  of  the  Human  Race  " ;  Thos. 
Rickman,the  Architect  and  first  "Discriminator"  of  the 
Gothic  Styles  ;  Dr.  Birkbeck,  Inventor  of  Mechanics' 
Institutes  ;  Bolton,  who  brought  the  Steam  Engine  of 
Watt  into  general  use ;  Galton,  the  Philosopher ;  Sir  T. 
Fowell  Buxton,  the  indomitable  champion  of  the  Slave  ; 
Sir  Joseph  Lister,  discoverer  of  Antiseptic  Surgery  ; 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  decipherer  of  Cuneiform  Inscrip- 
tions ;  Wm.  A.  Miller,  Chemical  Professor  ;  Sir  Samuel 
Cunard,  founder  of  Atlantic  Steam  Navigation  ;  Neul 
Dow,  Inventor  of  the  Maine  Liquor  Law  ;  Birket  Foster, 
unrivalled  as  an  illustrator  ;  Wm.  Edward  Forster,  of 
Education  Acts'  fame  ;  Sir  John  Barnard  and  Sir  Robt.  N. 
Fowler,  alike  at  different  periods  each  member  of 
Parliament  for  the  City  of  London  and  twice  Lord 
Mayor.  All  these  are  but  some  of  the  names  that  might 
be  given  of  those  eminent  in  various  ways  who  were 
indebted  for  their  origin  or  training  to  a  membership 


234 


THE  FRIENDS. 


in  the  Society  of  Friends,  which,  has  also  retained  within 
its  fold  the  Bakers  and  Olivers,  of  Kew  Gardens  ; 
William  Miller,  the  successful  engraver  of  Turner's 
atmospheric  effects  ;  Rendel  Harris  the  learned  dis- 
coverer of  ancient  MSS. ;  Francis  Fry,  the  laborious 
investigator  of  the  Cranmer  Bibles  ;  Robert  "Were  Fox, 
the  Falmouth  scientist ;  with  other  accomplished 
members  of  the  same  family  circle. 

Should  it  be  asked  whence  came  they,  these 
philanthropic  tradesmen,  these  earnest  seekers  after 
truth — the  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  quiet  and 
intellectual  homes  where  this  goodness  and  this 
force  were  nurtured  ;  homes  founded  by  those  who 
have  been  drawn  to  one  another  by  cords  of  purest 
affection  arising  from  unrestrained  intercourse  in 
social  circles  into  which  no  meretricious  excitements 
are  allowed  to  enter ;  homes  where  the  marriage 
pledge  is  sacred  though  no  priest  has  sealed  it ;  where 
children  are  regarded  as  born  with  capability  for 
salvation  though  never  brought  to  the  baptismal  fount ; 
where  parents  are  reverenced  as  priests  in  their  own 
families,  careful  for  all  right  culture  and  discouraging 
no  amusements  or  occupations  but  such  as  verge  on 
vanity  or  excess ;  where  wise  restrictions  are  placed  on 
the  reading  of  romances  and  dramatic  literature,  but  a 
welcome  given  to  the  healthful  children's  stories  of  an 
Edgeworth,  a  Jane  Taylor,  Hack  or  Howitt. 

Nowhere  could  the  modern  tastes  for  scientific 
pursuits  in  Botany  and  Natural  history  have  been 
more  fostered  than  amongst  the  young  of  these  Friendly 


THE  FRIENDS. 


235 


homes,  where  the  filling  of  cabinets  with  shells,  eggs, 
minerals,  or  fossils,  the  working  of  electrotypes,  and 
use  of  photographic  apparatus,  encouraged  mental  im- 
provement of  all  kinds,  amongst  which  a  love  for  and 
cultivation  of  the  varied  kinds  of  ferns  a  Newman  had 
shown  to  be  so  abundant,  must  not  be  forgotten. 

Homes  such  as  these,  of  true  comfort  and  abundant 
hospitality,  with  much  coming  and  going  of  relatives 
and  guests,  gave  great  opportunity  for  a  free  social 
intercourse  and  intermingling  at  a  social  board  with 
those  in  different  ranks  and  walk  of  life. 

A  religious  atmosphere,  rather  than  any  rigidly 
religious  observances,  marked  the  family  training ;  great 
reverence  was  shown  towaul  the  regularly  read  scrip- 
tures, of  which  portions,  as  well  as  hymns,  would  be 
committed  to  memory.  Truth  in  all  things  was  held 
sacred.  Extravagance  in  language,  manners,  or  dress 
was  kept  under,  and  although  there  might  be  little 
spoken  on  doctrinal  subjects  to  the  young,  they  saw  an 
effective  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  loving  con- 
sistency of  their  parents'  behaviour  towards  them. 

Never  also,  for  all  this  absence  of  theological  train- 
ing, has  the  Society  lacked  a  succession  in  the  Gospel 
ministry,  and  as  some  allusion  has  been  made  to  the 
early  age  at  which  individuals  have  been  called  to 
this  service,  an  instance  of  an  opposite  character  may 
here  be  quoted  from  a  recent  interesting  work  "on 
the  Richardsons  of  Cleveland,"  of  one  whose  training 
was  in  that  best  of  all  schools — the  trials  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  active  life, — "A  North   Country  Banker, 


236 


THE  FRIENDS. 


clever  and  well  read  and  prosperous,  was  suddenly 
brought  low  by  affliction  in  loss  of  property  and  a  most 
loving  wife.  His  knowledge  of  the  Bible  was  remark- 
able, and  his  acquaintance  with  theological  literature 
ranged  through  difiEerent  schools  of  thought  from 
Keble  to  Newton  and  Venn.  In  similar  catholicity 
had  a  familiarity  been  acquix-ed  with  English  Clas- 
sics ;  a  Shakespeare,  a  Milton  and  a  New  Testament 
being  generally  associated  as  his  pocket  companions. 
With  all  this  varied  culture,  all  this  experience  of  the 
joys  and  griefs  of  life,  with  keen,  sympathetic  and 
quick  perceptions,  he  was  becoming  fitted,  during 
sorrowful  and  somewhat  lonely  years,  to  minister  to 
his  fellows.  When  after  his  second  happy  marriage 
and  with  young  children  growing  up  around  him,  he. 
first  opened  his  mouth  as  a  minister,  it  seemed  as 
though  he  spoke  from  the  fullness  of  his  heart  and 
mind  the  thoughts  which  had  been  maturing  for  years, 
and  his  forcible  mode  of  expression,  enhanced  by  the 
deep  tones  of  his  voice,  riveted  attention  even  of  the 
careless,  while  the  marked  absence  of  conventional 
phrases  added  to  the  impression  of  originality  in  his 
much  valued  discourses." 

"All  Friends,"  it  has  been  said,  "are  known  to  one 
another,"  and  there  is  much  truth  in  thus  associating 
with  the  Society  a  bond  of  fellowship  that  wants  neither 
the  Signs  nor  the  Oaths  of  Freemasonry  for  its  recogni- 
tion or  maintenance.  The  frequent  assembling  together 
for  Society  and  Social  ends  furthers  this,  and  it  is  ever 
remembered  when  removals  occur  from  one  district  to 


THE  FRIENDS. 


237 


another,  for  the  leaving  Friend  to  be  supplied  with 
letters  of  recommendation  to  those  of  his  fresh  locality. 
Social  gatherings  in  households  are  frequently  seasons 
of  religious  intercourse  (more  often  occurrent  formerly 
than  is  now  possible  in  these  rushing  railway  times) 
which  has  been  thus  sweetly  alluded  to  by  Whittier : — 

There  sometimes  Silence,  it  were  liard  to  tell 

Who  owned  it  first,  upon  the  circle  fell. 

Nor  eye  was  raised,  nor  hand  was  stirred. 

In  that  soul  sabbath,  till  at  last  some  word 

Of  tender  counsel,  or  low  prayer  was  heard. 

Then  guests  who  lingered  but  farewell  to  say. 

And  take  Love's  message,  went  their  Homewara  way. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


MISSIONS. 

"  Be  faithful  and  spread  the  truth  abroad  .  .  as  ye  are 
moved  into  Countries  and  Nations,  that  the  sound  of  the  trumpet 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  may  be  heard  in  the  Nations  and  Islands." — 
G.  Fox. 

TN  missionary  efEort,  the  Society  has  not,  until 
late  years,  taken  much  share  through  any  definite 
Organization  for  that  object,  but  it  has  never  ceased  to 
foster  the  concerns  of  those  whom  it  felt  were  called 
of  the  Lord  to  labour  as  gospel  messengers  among 
Christian  brethren  or  heathen  in  distant  lands,  of 
which  its  early  history  has  given  us  good  evidence, 
continued  also  throughout  the  present  century. 

In  1831  James  Backhouse  and  G.  W.  "Walker  were 
engaged  under  its  auspices  for  some  fifteen  years  in 
gospel  service  amongst  the  convict  settlements,  then 
little  visited,  at  the  Cape  and  in  Australia.  A  Thomay 
Shillitoe  had  his  Friends'  cordial  assistance  throughout 
extensive  journeyings  to  Courts,  and  Cities,  Prisons, 
and  Institutions  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  where  a 
Stephen  Grellett  was  likewise  sustained  in  an  earnest 
gospel  mission  that  took  him  to  the  Cabinets  of 
Statesmen,  and  audiences  with  Emperor  and  Kings, 
even  to  imparting  counsel  on  Spiritual  truths  in  the 


THE  FRIENDS. 


839 


Vatican  to  the  Pope  himself.  For  Daniel  Wheeler,  in 
1834,  a  special  vessel  was  granted,  that  carried  him 
in  this  "  Henry  Freeling  "  throughout  long  voyages  to 
the  Islands  of  the  South  Seas  on  his  evangelistic 
mission.  Robert  Lindsay  and  Frederick  Mackie  spent 
years  of  extensive  travel  in  the  Cape,  in  India  and 
Australia.  Russell  JeflErey,  Henry  Hipsley,  and 
William  Brewin  travelled  on  a  similar  service  in  1862 
in  India,  especially  to  those  parts  of  that  large  and 
closely  peopled  country  where  missionary  efforts  were 
in  operation.  Visits  also  in  Gospel  love  have  never 
been  wanting,  either  to  Indians  in  their  native 
forests,  or  like  John  and  Martha  Yeardley,  to  dwellers 
among  the  Isles  of  Greece.  Others  have  thus  gone  to 
the  Valleys  of  Piedmont,  the  Steppes  of  Russia  ;  or 
like  Isaac  Sharp  to  Finns  and  Esquimaux,  amid  the  icy 
cold  of  Labrador,  or  settlers  on  the  warm  Veldts  of 
Africa,  to  co-religionists  throughout  Australasia,  and  to 
missionary  brethren  in  Madagascar,  Mexico,  and  India. 
No  period  of  the  Society's  history  is  without  this  warm 
encouragement  and  support  of  varied  individual  effort 
by  those  whom  it  believed  divinely  called  to  such 
service. 

It  remained,  however,  for  George  Richardson, 
when  very  aged  and  lying  on  his  death-bed  in  1859,  to 
be  the  means  by  a  letter  he  wrote  to  his  brethren 
when  assembled  in  their  Yearly  Meeting  of  awakening 
in  the  Society  a  consciousness,  that  as  a  Community, 
it  ought  to  have  its  own  share  in  missionary  effort 
in  Heathen  Lands. 


240 


THE  FRIENDS. 


His  appeal  led  eventually  to  the  formation  of  a 
Friends'  Foreign  Mission  Association,  under  whose 
auspices  Joseph  S.  Sewell  and  also  Louis  and  Sarah 
Street,  from  America,  became  its  first  Missionaries  to 
Madagascar,  where  now  it  has  a  staff  of  some  twenty 
workers,  with  Meetings,  Schools,  printing  Establish- 
ment and  Medical  mission  in  the  Capital  of  the  Island, 
and  a  large  area  of  country,  exclusively  under  its  care, 
influencing,  more  or  less  directly,  some  40,000  natives. 

INDIA. 

Work  in  India  was  commenced  by  Rachel  Metcalf 
in  1867,  who  gave  her  life  to  the  service,  and  was  soon 
joined  by  two  American  Friends,  assisted  from  time  to 
time  by  various  others  from  England,  until  now  at 
Hoshungabad,  Sohagpur,  and  Sioni — which  are  places 
some  40  miles  apart — premises  have  been  obtained  or 
built,  such  as  bungalows,  orphanage,  mission  and  meet- 
ing rooms,  all  in  active  use  by  some  twenty  workers, 
who  have  gone  out  from  England  under  a  sense  of 
being  called  to  this  service  of  love.  China  is  also 
add«d  to  its  mission  field,  where  seven  men  and 
women  Friends  are  engaged  in  medical  and  general 
mission  work  with  much  encouragement,  and  similar 
cheer  is  attending  labours  of  English  and  American 
Friends  in  Japan. 

TURKEY. 

In  the  year  18C0,  John  Yeardley,  who,  with  his 
wife,  had  in  years  past  travelled  much  on  gospel 
service  among  the  Isles  of  Greece,  felt  that  some 


THE  FRIENDS. 


241 


further  service  was  called  for  from  him  in  the  East — 
which,  to  one  of  his  advanced  years,  was  a  great  under- 
taking. He  was  only  able  to  reach  Constantinople  yet 
here  his  service  was  the  means  of  influencing  some 
Armenians  ;  especially  G.  Dobrasian  (then  a  young 
medical  student),  so  as  to  prove  the  foundation  for  a 
little  group  that  now  gather  in  profession  with  the 
Society,  and  hold  meetings  for  worship  regularly,  with 
an  attendance  up  to  a  hundred  or  more,  comprising 
members  of  various  races,  Armenians,  Greeks,  Turks 
Persians,  Jews. 

SYRIA. 

Friends'  share  in  Syrian  Missions  commenced  with 
visits  paid  in  the  love  of  the  gospel  by  Eli  and  Sybil 
Jones,  who  held  meetings  after  the  manner  of  Friends, 
in  various  places  during  their  travels  in  Palestine, 
and  amongst  those  influenced  by  them  was  Theophilus 
Waldmeier,  a  Swiss,  who  was  engaged  at  that  time 
in  Missionary  School-work  on  Mount  Lebanon  under 
Mrs.  Mott.  He  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  Stafford 
Allen  when  travelling  there,  and  found  his  own 
views  so  much  in  accord  with  those  of  Friends  that 
he  came  to  England  and  joined  himself  in  member- 
ship with  them.  Through  the  interest  Hannah 
Stafford  Allen  awakened  in  the  cause,  they  were 
willing  to  support  him  in  opening  a  Mission  of 
their  own  on  Mount  Lebanon,  and  these  eflEorts 
under  Theophilus  Waldmeier  (who  is  remembered 
as  once  Missionary  to  King  Theodore)  have  grown 
from   small   beginnings  into  a  large  work  on  the 


242 


THE  FRIENDS. 


valuable  property  of  Ain  Salaam,  in  Brumana,  with 
its  training  homes  and  schools,  dispensary,  and 
substantial  meeting  house,  well  filled  at  times  of 
worship  ;  and  its  congregation  have  formed  themselves 
into  a  Monthly  Meeting.  Some  twenty  Friends  have 
gone  out  to  conduct  this  varied  and  important  work  ; 
a  few  of  them  at  their  own  charges,  but  the  chief 
supplies  come  from  voluntary  subscriptions  of  some 
£1,800  a  year.  The  American  Friends  have  a  mission 
centre  of  their  own,  with  enbstantial  buildings  also, 
some  nine  miles  from  Jerusalem,  at  Rama'Jah,  where 
Hulda  Leighton  and  others  sustain  a  most  useful 
Christian  work. 

HOME  MISSIONS. 
After  this  cursory  glance  at  Friends'  share  in  the 
Foreign  Mission  Field,  it  has  to  be  observed  that 
oimultaneous  with  the  awakened  activity  in  such  dis- 
tant service  is  observable  the  growth  of  Home 
Missions  amongst  them,  which,  after  existing  in  more 
or  less  direct  connection  with  educational  efforts 
in  First-day  and  Adult  Schools  have  of  late  years  come 
under  the  care  of  a  Committee  appointed  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting. 

These  originated  through  Sabbath  School  work 
having  awakened  an  interest  on  behalf  of  the  Parents  of 
the  children  thus  under  Friends'  care,  and  the  response 
found  at  Leeds  and  some  other  towns  in  efforts  made  for 
their  religious  benefit  induced thoseinLondontoengraft 
Home  Mission  Work  on  the  First-day  Schools  they  had 
long  maintained  in  Spitalfields,  for  which  some  new 


THE  FRIENDS. 


243 


premises  were  built  and  had  already  been  opened  when  a 
visitation  of  cholera  drew  the  sympathetic  attention  of 
all  England  to  this  afflicted  district,  and  the  help  that 
poured  in  from  all  quarters  led  to  these  buildings 
being  called  after  good  old  Peter,  the  "  Bedford  Insti- 
tute," inaugurating  its  subsequent  career  of  manifold 
usefulness. 

About  this  time,  1865  to  '70,  some  Friends  had  felt 
it  their  duty  to  hold  Meetings  in  the  crowded  districts 
of  the  East  End.  A  large  tent  obtained  many  years 
before  for  Samuel  Capper — when  under  religious 
concern,  to  hold  meetings  in  country  places  of  our 
Western  Counties — was  discovered  stored  away  under 
;i  London  Meeting-House.  This  was  now  set  up  in  a 
disu,sed  Burial  Ground  in  Whitechapel,  with  such  evi- 
dent blessing  that  during  another  summer  it  was  asked 
for  by  an  earnest  promoter  of  such  services  (not  him- 
self a  Friend),  and  he  set  "William  Booth  (then  just 
come  to  London  seeking  a  sphere  of  labour)  to  conduct 
gospel  services  in  it  which  proved  so  successful  that 
this  old  tent  became  as  a  cradle,  out  of  which  his 
future  East  End  work  developed  into  the  enormous 
proportions  of  the  Salvation  Army. 

On  William  Booth  obtaining  permanent  quarters, 
Friends  shifted  the  tent  to  another  of  their  closed 
Burial  Grounds,  near  Bunhill  Fields,  where  it  also 
attracted,  during  several  summers  in  succession,  various 
zealous  workers,  both  in  and  out  of  the  Society,  so  that 
when  finally  wrecked  during  a  heavy  storm  Friends 
replaced  it  by  an  iron  room.   In  this  grew  up  an  Adult 


244 


TKE  FRIENDS. 


School  with  other  work  of  so  much  promise  as  to  lead 
to  the  erection  at  great  cost  of  the  fine  permanent 
Memorial  Buildings  in  which  all  kinds  of  Mission 
Work  now  find  excellent  accommodation  on  a  site 
close  to  where  George  Fox  and  other  valiants  in  the 
Lamb's  army  were  laid  to  rest. 

Scarce  a  town  is  there  now  of  any  importance 
throughout  England  in  which  the  Friends  do  not  own, 
or  have  under  control,  buildings  for  zealous  workers, 
drawn  largely  from  the  younger  ranks  of  their  mem- 
bers, who  are  doing  all  they  can  to  make  England  the 
better  by  raising  a  sober,  enlightened,  and  scripturally 
instructed  population. 

These  are  worked  by  independent  and  local  com- 
mittees, but  on  the  subject  claiming  the  attention  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting,  it  appointed,  in  1882,  a  large  Com- 
mittee of  men  and  women  Friends  to  act  as  might  seem 
best  on  its  behalf  in  fostering  these  efforts,  and  as  a 
result,  through  funds  raised  by  voluntary  subscription, 
there  are  some  40  workers  who  itinerate  or  settle  for  a 
time  in  districts  wherever  a  need  for  originating,  re- 
viving, or  sustaining  School  and  Mission  work  exists. 

Thus  this  Home  Mission  Work,  though  a  Society 
organisation,  has  resulted  from  Schools,  long  previously 
conducted  among  the  wage-earning  classes,  which 
themselves  became  federated  under  an  Association,  ot 
which  Joseph  Storrs  Fry,  (who  has  ably  served  the 
Yearly  Meeting  on  fourteen  occasions  as  its  clerk,)  has 
been  its  much  esteemed  honorary  secretary  from  tho 
commencement. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


245 


In  the  junior  department  of  this  school  work 
Friends  have  been  followers  rather  than  pioneers,  but 
with  this  difference  that  their  Schools  are  for  children 
gathered  promiscuously  and  not  as  with  others,  for 
those  whose  parents  belong  to  the  congregations. 

Their  largely  successful  efforts  in  teaching  an 
older  class,  having  had  no  previous  example,  their 
origin  claims  our  notice. 

ADULT  SCHOOLS. 

These  were  commenced  at  Birmingham  in  1845, 
when  Joseph  Sturge  invited  a  few  young  men  Friends 
to  his  house  to  discuss  whether  something  could  not 
be  done  for  the  instruction  and  help  of  those  who  had 
reached  an  age  and  position  beyond  the  range  of  an 
ordinary  Sabbath  School.  It  led  to  a  School  bein,:,' 
commenced  for  men  and  grown  up  lads  at  the  earl  y 
hour  of  7.30  on  a  First-day  morning,  and  the  teache:  j 
agreed  to  meet  to  breakfast  half-an-hour  earlier,  to 
which  repast  so  long  as  he  lived  this  good  man  would 
come  to  carve  himself  the  cold  ham  he  supplied.  The 
School  grew  rapidly  in  numbers  and  influence,  so 
much  so  that  a  similar  work  among  young  women 
succeeded.  Bristol,  that  long  had  had  one  for  children, 
followed  the  example  of  this  one  for  Adults.  So  was 
it  with  other  places  year  after  year,  until  through  these 
important  accessions  the  number  of  attenders  has  in 
1891  reached  an  aggregate  of  more  than  23,000,  with 
some  800  teachers,  at  work  in  90  different  centres,  and 
all  this  is  exclusive  of  the  Junior  First-day  Schools 
with  their  12,000  teachers  and  15,000  children. 


246 


THE  FRIENDS. 


These  varied  and  extensive  efforts  are  as  yet  con- 
ducted on  an  undenominational  basis,  so  that  when 
fellowships  have  resulted  such  are  but  local  in  cha- 
racter and  without  official  connection  with  the  Society. 
In  recent  times,  however,  Home  Mission  efforts  in 
religious  meetings  have  brought  a  steady  accession  ot 
members,  chiefly  from  a  wage-earning  class,  which 
has  turned  the  current  from  a  previous  yearly  declin- 
ing— or  at  most  stationary  position — into  one  of  mucli 
hopefulness  for  the  future,  by  the  gain  to  the  Society 
of  those  who  have  not  found  themselves  within  it.s 
ranks  by  accident  of  birth,  but  have  entered  them 
through  personal  conviction  and  attachment  to  it.-s 
principles. 

This  has  a  likeness  to  what  we  have  seen  ot 
Society  aggressiveness  in  its  early  days,  when  as  now 
youthful  zeal  led  the  van,  encouraged  and  fostered  by 
elder  counsels. 

Friends  have  found  that  they  themselves  have  a 
work  to  do  amongst  the  ignorant  and  poorer  classes 
besides  subscribing  funds,  as  has  been  so  long  their 
wont,  to  assist  others  in  these  labours  of  love. 

What  they  are  thus  doing  for  London  in  seven 
distinct  centres  involves  them  in  an  annual  expendi  - 
ture of  more  than  £3,000,  and  includes  Medical  Mis- 
sions, Labour  Agencies,  a  Refuge,  and  a  Forster  Home 
of  somewhat  of  the  Deaconness  character. 

The  Home  Mission  Committee  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing raises  and  expends  some  £4,000  a  year  in  fostering 
local  efforts  over  the  country. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


247 


The  Foreign  Mission  Association  has  an  annual 
expenditure  of  £11,000  and  sustains  some  50  mission- 
aries at  their  work,  all  of  which  annual  outgoings  are 
independent  of  large  amounts  that  from  time  to  time 
have  been  raised  to  build  schools,  orphanages,  training 
homes,  hospital,  medical  mission,  meeting  premises, 
residences  for  missionaries,  &c. 

Thus  in  their  way,  though  small  in  comparison 
wuth  the  missionary  operations  of  other  Christian 
Bodies  yet  large  in  proportion  to  their  own,  are  the 
"  Friends "  of  this  day  found  helping  on  the  advent 
of  that  time  when  it  shall  be  said,  "  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
of  His  Christ." 


10' 


CHAPTER  XXVI n. 


FBIEXDS  AS  AT  PRESENT  IN  EUROPE  AND 
AUSTRALASIA. 

IHE  advantages  offered  in  Pennsylvania  of  political 


and  religious  freedom,  proved  so  attractive  to  Friends 
on  the  continent  of  Europe,  harassed  as  they  were  by 
army  requirements  and  clerical  claims,  that  a  migration 
ensued  which  eventually  left  none  remaining  of  those 
who  had  adopted  their  principles  at  the  rise  of  the 
Society.  Yet  there  are  still  little  communities  of  Friends 
in  Germany,  France,  and  Norway,  the  origin  of  which 
should  not  be  omitted  in  our  survey.  Those  in 
Germany  resulted  from  a  religious  visit  in  1790  of 
George  Dillwyn  and  wife,  Sarah  Grubb*  and  her  hus- 
band, with  some  others  who  in  the  course  of  their 
travels  in  Holland  and  Germany  found  in  Westphalia 
some  spiritually  earnest  nersons  who  had  very  much 
withdrawn  from  the  state  worship,  and  were  prepared 
to  gather  in  silence  and  wait  to  feel  the  Lord  of  all 
cpirits  in  His  direct  action  on  their  souls.  These  were 
further  encouraged  by  a  visit  of  some  duration  from 
John  Pemberton,  an  aged  American  Friend,  who  ended 
his  life  amongst  them,  and  also  at  a  later  period  by 


•  She  was  the  daugliter  of  William  Tuke,  and  inherited 
much  of  her  father's  force  of  cliaracter.  She  was  said  "  to  have 
-combined  the  manners  of  a  duchess  with  the  piety  of  a  saint." 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Stephen  Grellet  whose  visit  to  them  was  accomplished 
through  manifold  difficulties  and  dangers  from  conti- 
nental wars  then  raging.  These  with  various  other  aids 
and  visits  from  English  and  American  Friends  con- 
tributed to  a- settlement  of  the  Society  both  at  Prymont 
and  Minden,  at  each  of  which  places  it  has  a  meeting- 
house. Their  original  members  as  in  England  were 
drawn  from  various  classes,  mechanics  as  well  as  trades- 
men, and  some  of  local  rank,  such  as  the  Von  Seebohm 
family,  one  of  whom,  Benjamin  Seebohm,  settled  in 
England,  and  became  widely  known  for  specially  valued 
gospel  services  in  England  and  America  in  furtherance 
of  Friends'  views  of  gospel  truth.  He  was  early  brough  t 
into  this  usefulness  through  Stephen  Grellet  having 
enlisted  him  as  his  interpreter  at  the  meetings  he  held. 
Some  of  these  were  large,  and  on  the  first  occasion  the 
call  to  such  a  service  was  so  unexpected  that  fear  pre- 
vailed, till  Stephen,  putting  his '  hand  on  the  lad's 
shoulder,  gave  him  such  courage,  that,  young  as  he 
was,  he  succeeded  to  admiration  in  transmitting  to  the 
assembly  the  counsel  that  flowed  from  the  earnest 
evangelist. 

Many  of  the  German  Friends  have  not  shrunk 
from  much  trial  and  sufilering  in  maintainiug  a  testi- 
mony against  war — but  their  families  have  largely 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  given  by  emigra- 
tion to  avoid  military  service,  consequently  the  num- 
bers remaining  are  few.  Most  of  these  are  living  in 
Minden,  where  Louis  Rasche  is  chief  representative  of 
•  he  family  of  that  name  which  in  former  time  welcomed 


250 


THE  FRIENDS. 


Sarah  Grnbb  and  George  Dill wyn  on  their  travels  thither. 

NORWAY  AND  DENMARK. 
There  is  a  Society  of  Friends  in  Norway  which 
had  its  origin  under  the  following  circumstances  : — 
In  the  year  1814  the  Friends  living  at  Rochester  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  one  of  the  Norwegian  prisoners  in 
a  ship  of  war  then  lying  off  Chatham  that  induced  them 
to  pay  a  visit  to  the  vessel.  They  found  that  amongst  a 
number  of  these  captives  taken  during  the  war  between 
Denmark  and  England,  were  several  young  men  who 
were  in  the  habit  of  sitting  down  together  to  wait  upon 
the  Lord,  and  to  feel  his  power  arise  in  their  hearts 
which  was  to  them  a  great  preservation  from  the  low- 
life  led  by  others,  and  more  profitable  than  uniting  in 
any  formal  religious  service.  The  leader  amongst 
them  was  a  young  Norwegian,  the  son  of  a  carpenter, 
who  had  enlisted  on  board  a  Danish  Privateer,  that  had 
been  captured  at  sea  by  one  of  the  English  cruisers.  In 
his  affliction  great  heart  sorrow  and  repentance  ensued, 
and,  though  very  ignorant  as  to  Scripture  truth,  he 
felt  the  Lord  to  be  near  to  his  spirit,  and  was  surprised 
on  meeting  with  a  copy,  in  Danish,  of  Barclay's 
Apology  to  find  there  was  a  people  who  owned  to  a 
similar  experience.  It  led  him  to  write  that  letter  which 
he  had  composed  by  the  aid  of  a  dictionary  to  the 
Friends  at  Rochester.  Some  of  these  came  to  the  ships, 
and  until  the  Peace  liberated  them  they  held  meetings 
on  board  that  increased  until  .^»0  of  the  prisoners  used  to 
be  present  three  times  a  week.    These,  on  liberation, 


THE  FRIENDS. 


251 


dispersed  to  their  various  localities,  and  not  many  years 
after  Wm.  Allen  and  Stephen  Grellet  paid  them  a  visit. 
Thomas  Shillitoe  spent  a  long  time  in  going  amongst 
them  and  encouraging  the  settlement  of  meetings, 
which  service  after  some  24  years  was  further  promoted 
by  three  Friends,  E.  0.  Tregelles,  John  Budge,  and 
Isaac  Sharp,  who  went  there  several  times. 

Their  number  at  present  is  about  140,  and  though 
small  groups  are  located  in  various  parts,  the  greater 
number  live  at  Stavanger,  where  they  have  a  school 
attended  by  about  20  children.  One  or  two,  such  as  the 
late  Endre  Dahl,  have  been  successful  in  trade,  but  for 
the  most  part  they  are  hardy  sons  of  toil,  fervent  in 
spirit  and  greatly  cheered  by  the  visits  which  are  sure 
to  be  annually  paid  them  by  one  or  more  English  and 
American  Friends.  Here  as  elsewhere  on  the  continent, 
the  exactions  and  restrictions  of  a  State  Church  and 
Military  Service  makes  the  freedoin  obtainable  in  the 
Western  World  a  superior  attraction  to  the  circum- 
stances of  home  life,  and  as  facilities  increase  year  by 
year,  the  young  leave  more  freely  whilst  the  decease 
of  the  elders  tends  further  to  diminish  this  branch  of 
the  Society.  There  are  Friends  also  in  Denmark  at 
various  places,  but  not  promising  much  for  develop- 
ment or  even  of  a  permanence,  as  their  numbers  are 
too  few  in  any  one  place  for  much  of  successful 
organization.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Danish 
edition  of  Barclay  before  referred  to  was  the  work  of 
a  Lutheran  minister  from  that  country  as  far  back  as 
1738,  who  resigned  his  post  of  missionary  to  Danish 


252 


THE  FRIENDS. 


sailors  on  becoming  a  Friend,  for  whose  principles  he 
also  suffered  imprisonment. 

Several  of  the  Norwegian  Friends  lived  long  lives 
of  faithful  dedication,  such  as  Elias  Tested  and  Endre 
Dahl,  and  one  of  the  earliest  of  their  number  thus  ex- 
pressed himself  when  a  prisoner  on  our  men-of-war 
"  I  am  convinced  by  His  Spirit  that  there  is  a  great 
secret  in  the  word,  which  no  human  creature  with  hu- 
own  natural  powers  merely  can  discover,  yet  it  is 
opened  to  those  whom  the  Almighty  knows  will  bo 
faithful  and  preserve  it  in  honour,  and  as  it  is  what 
cannot  be  bought  with  money  as  other  things  can,  my 
wish  is  to  preserve  His  work  in  a  clean  heart."  And 
in  another  letter  was  shown  the  Power  he  trusted  in 
for  this.  "  Surely  Satan  may  bite  the  heel,  but  as  soon 
as  the  Spirit  of  God  draws  near  to  me  I  can  fully  resist 
him." 

FRANCE. 

Between  England  and  France,  through  long  cen- 
turies of  international  jealousies  and  wars,  little  com- 
munity of  interest  on  religious  subjects  existed — om 
country  becoming  more  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  in 
politics  and  religion  than  able  to  exert  any  influence 
in  promulgation  of  Scripture  Truth. 

Nevertheless,  the  Society  is  not  without  it3  repi  e 
sentatives  on  the  soil  of  France,  for  in  the  Southern 
districts  an  interesting  little  community  of  Friend.? 
has  existed  there  for  about  a  hundred  years. 

It  arose  through  earnest-minded  Frenchmen, 
shocked  at  the  results  of  the  wars  waged  amongst  theu^ 


THE  FRIENDS. 


253 


■  n  the  name  of  religion,  having  had  their  attention 
arrested  in  1785,  by  some  English  Friends,  Joseph  Fox 
and  Co.,  of  Falmouth,  who  had  advertised  for  any  that 
might  have  sustained  losses  from  a  vessel  of  theirs,  hav- 
ing, unauthorised,  acted  as  a  privateer.  Such  conduct 
towards  reputed  enemies  seemed  to  these  Frenchmen 
so  truly  Christian  as  to  make  them  desirous  of  learning 
more  of  the  principles  that  could  prompt  and 
sustain  such  noble  conduct.  It  led  to  a  corres- 
pondence, aQd  was  followed  by  a  visit  to  England 
of  one  of  their  number,  De  Marsillac,  of  noble 
birth,  who  informed  Friends  that  for  60  or  70  years 
there  had  existed  in  these  southern  parts  of  France  a 
Protestant  community,  who  held  similar  views  to  theirs 
on  worship,  ministry,  and  the  unlawfulness  of  war. 
When  peace  made  the  country  accessible,  a  deputation  of 
Friends  visited  this  little  community  in  1817,  and  ever 
since  from  time  to  time  English  and  American 
ministers  have  had  good  service  in  these  parts,  and 
a  A  aluable  company  of  earnest-minded  French  Friends 
resulted  with  their  head  quarters  at  Cogenies  .  and 
Nismes,  and  at  tie  fortaer  are  nice  Meeting  House 
premises.  Amongst  these,  natural  losses  by  nature's 
decay  have  not  been  replaced  by  family  successions, 
chiefly  through  emigration  of  their  young  men  to 
avoid  the  pressure  of  conscription,  and  consequently 
the  numbers  at  present  residing  there  are  but  as  a 
remnant. 

The  chief  family  has  befen  that  of  the  Majolier,  and 
of  one  of  these  it  is  related,  that  a  wolf  unexpectedly 


251 


THE  FRIENDS. 


appeared  close  to  him  in  liis  vineyard ;  he  felt  him- 
self in  great  danger,  but  had  an  assurance  that  as  he 
kept  his  eye  fixed  on  the  intruder  he  would  be  in 
safety,  and  thus  walking  slowly  backward,  with  eyes 
fixed  on  the  voracious  beast,  he  reached  shelter  unhurt. 
This  used  to  be  told  by  his  grand-daughter,  who  was 
brought  over,  when  but  a  girl,  to  England  by  some 
Friends,  in  whose  family  she  lived  for  many  years,  and 
then  returned  to  her  home  at  Nismes.  On  her  marriage 
some  time  after  to  Robert  Alsop,  they  became  some  of 
the  most  widely-known  Friends  for  religious  service  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  welcome  in  all  social  circles,  and 
loved  the  more  the  better  they  were  known.  Christine 
Alsop  was  in  herself  a  remarkable  example  of  English 
solidity  blended  with  French  vivacity — in  a  harmony 
of  attractiveness  and  strength. 

Although  Stephen  Grellet  w?)s  not  of  this  group 
his  career  presents  a  yet  more  remarkable  instance  of 
a  character  in  which  the  courtesy  of  a  French  nobleman 
influenced  by  contact  with  English  speaking  races  both 
in  America  and  England  became  manifest  in  the  ranks 
of  spiritual  warfare.  He  never  lost  the  manners  of  the 
]>olished  gentleman  in  the  consistent  Friend,  but  held 
them  in  such  combination  as  to  win  many  cultivated 
minds  to  the  cause  of  philanthropy  and  religion.  It 
was  his  having  searched  into  the  condition  of  Newgate 
as  already  mentioned,  that  stirred  the  saintly  zeal  of 
Elizabeth  Fry  to  those  visits  which  led  to  its  reforma- 
tion, and  by  his  love  for  "  dear  Stephen  "  was  William 
Allen  led  into  many  a  companionship  of  distant  service 


THE  FRIENDS. 


255 


for  their  Master  in  Russia  and  various  other  parts  of 
Europe  and  Asia. 

AUSTRALASIA. 

Friends  are  represented  in  Australasia  by  settle 
ments  of  their  members  in  Queensland,  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria,  South  Australia,  Tasmania,  and  Auck- 
land, in  New  Zealand,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
about  a  thousand  members. 

Those  in  Tasmania  and  New  South  Wales  arose 
through  the  visits  of  James  Backhouse  and  G.  W. 
Walker,  in  1834,  whose  self-denying  labours,  during 
several  years,  attracted  little  groups  in  each  place  to 
adopt  Friends'  mode  of  worship,  which  has  been 
maintained  by  their  descendants  and  others  who  have 
joined  them.  In  Tasmania  the  families  of  the  Mathers 
and  the  Cottons  have  formed  the  nucleus  ;  and  a  high 
school  for  Friends  and  others,  opened  at  Hobart  of  late 
years,  is  pursuing  a  prosperous  career  under  the  head- 
mastership  of  Samuel  Clemes  and  a  managing  com- 
mittee of  resident  Friends.  In  Sydney  an  Adult  School 
conducted  at  the  Meeting  House  is  proving  a  source  of 
much  usefulness. 

The  Friends  in  South  Australia  reside  chiefly  in 
Adelaide,  or  at  Mount  Barker,  a  township  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood. Most  of  them  came  out  on  the  formation 
of  the  colony,  in  or  about  1836,  many  of  them  from  the 
South  Coast  towns  of  England  ;  Mays  and  Saunders, 
Phillips  and  Colemans,  being  chiefly  represented. 

Melbourne  is  the  principal  centre  for  the  Societ? 


256 


THE  FRIENDS. 


in  Victoria,  -where  it  has  commodiotis  premises  in  a 
good  thoroughfare,  erected  in  1859,  used  by  some  tw  o 
hundred  Friends  of  various  circumstances  in  life,  witl; 
families  growing  up  around  them.  It  has,  like  Tasmania, 
its  own  Yearly  Meeting. 

The  Meeting  House  at  Brisbane,  opened  in  1866,  is 
not  largely  attended,  but  there  are  amongst  them  some 
earnest  workers,  which  may  also  be  said  of  Rockhamj)- 
ton.  The  numbers  in  both  places  are  few,  the  premises 
small,  but  an  influence  for  good  is  being  exerted  on 
those  around  them. 

In  New  Zealand  there  are  on  the  whole  a  con- 
siderable number  of  residents  (nearly  200)  more  or  less 
connected  with  the  Society,  but  only  in  Auckland  are 
these  situated  in  sufficient  number  to  have  a  Meeting 
House.  In  other  places,  such  as  Dunedin,  the  few 
meet  at  one  another's  houses,  and  at  Wellington,  Thomas 
Mason,  an  old  and  successful  settler  in  the  Hut  Valley, 
has  long  held  a  meeting  at  his  own  residence. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


FRIENDS  OF  ENGLAND,  IRELAND,  NORTH  AMERICA, 
AND  CANADA  IN  CONFERENCE  ASSEMBLED. 

T^THEN  Richard  Baxter  alluded  to  "Friends"  as  a 


divided  people  wanting  in  any  element  of  per- 
manence, he  little  expected  that  the  Community  he 
thus  affected  to  despise  would  two  centuries  afterwards 
have  become  so  spread  and  remained  so  united  as  to 
assemble  in  Conference  through  deputies  from  no  less 
than  twelve  independent  yet  corresponding  Yearly 
Meetings  in  a  far  distant  and  at  that  time  unimagined 
City  of  the  Western  World. 

English,  Irish,  Canadian,  and  American  were  thus 
represented  by  ninety-five  Delegates  of  men  and 
women  Friends,  and  the  husbands  of  wife  delegates 
and  wives  of  husbands  were  admitted  to  be  present, 
though  not  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  Sittings  of  this 
Conference  which  assembled  in  the  City  of  Richmond, 
Indiana,  in  September,  18S7,  and  lasted  throughout 
four  successive  days.  Under  regulations  as  to  length  of 
time  for  each  speaker,  were  discussed  such  subjects  as 
Union  in  Foreign  Mission  Work  ;  the  Mission  of  the 
Society  of  Friends, and  what  is  its  Message  to  the  World  ; 
Meetings  for  Worship,  and  the  method  of  conducting 
them ;  the  relation  of  the  Ministry  to  the  Church,  and  of 


258 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


the  Church  to  the  Ministry,  and  how  best  for  the  Minis- 
try to  be  sustained.  These  and  other  similar  matters 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  Conference  throughout 
eleven  sittings,  and  the  proceedings  are  reported  in  a 
published  volume  of  more  than  300  pages.  Record  is 
made  of  the  feeling  of  thankfulness  for  the  unity  and 
brotherly  condescension  that  had  prevailed  throughout 
in  the  face  of  a  very  free  expression  of  opinion. 

An  important  act  of  the  Conference  was  the  pre- 
paration of  a  "  Declaration  of  some  of  the  Fundamental 
Principles  of  Christian  Truth  as  held  by  the  religious 
Society  of  Friends,"  dra^vn  (as  expressed  by  J.  B. 
Braithwaite,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  appointed  for 
the  purpose)  from  documents  that  had  passed  the 
various  Yearly  Meetings. 

Thus  accredited,  it  may  be  taken,  not  only  as 
the  latest  but  most  comprehensive  statement  of  the 
kind,  amounting  almost  to  a  Treatise,  which  must 
necessarily  be  presented  here  in  a  very  abbreviated 
form. 

It  refers  throughout  its  couri3e  to  not  less  than  147 
passages  of  scripture  in  support  of  its  statements  which 
are  ranged  under  these  sixteen  heads  : — Of  God — the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ— the  Holy  Spirit— the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures— Man's  Creation  and  Fall — Justification  and 
Sanctification — the  Resurrection  and  Final  Judgment — 
Baptism— the  Supper  of  the  Lord — Public  "Worship  — 
Prayer  and  Praise — Liberty  of  Conscience  in  its  Rela- 
tion to  Civil  Government — Marriage— Peace — Oaths — 
the  First  Day  of  the  Week. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


259 


The  first  clause  is  as  follows  : — 

We  believe  in  one  Holy,  Almighty,  Allwise,  and 
everlasting  God,  the  Father,  the  Creator,  and  Preserver 
of  all  things,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  His  only  Son  our  Lord, 
by  -whom  all  things  were  made  and  by  whom  all  things 
consist ;  and  in  one  Holy  Spirit,  proceeding  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  the  Reprover  of  the  World,  the 
Witness  for  Christ,  and  the  Teacher,  Guide,  and  Sancti- 
fier  of  the  people  of  God,  and  that  these  three  are  one 
in  the  Eternal  Godhead,  to  whom  be  honour,  praise,  and 
thanksgiving  now  and  for  ever.  Amen. 

The  testimony  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  very 
full  and  will  be  found  explicit  as  to  His  being  true  God 
and  perfect  man,  in  whom  alone  we  have  redemption 
and  remission  of  sins  by  virtue  of  His  most  satisfactory 
sacrifice,  who,  having  shown  Himself  alive  after  His  pas- 
sion hath  ascended  into  Heaven.  He  is  the  one  Mediator 
of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost  them  that  come  unto  God  by  Him ;  the  head  of 
the  true  church,  all  its  members  made  one  in  Him.  In 
their  hearts  He  dwells  by  faith  and  gives  them  of  His 
peace.  His  will  is  their  law,  and  in  Him  they  enjoy 
the  true  liberty,  a  freedom  from  the  bondage  of  sin. 

The  Holy  Spirit  coming  in  the  name  and  with  the 
authority  of  the  risen  and  ascended  Saviour  takes  the 
things  of  Christ  and  shews  them  as  a  realized  posses- 
sion to  the  believing  soul,  and  is  the  seal  of  recon- 
ciliation to  the  believer  in  Jesus,  the  witness  to  his 
adoption  into  the  family  of  the  redeemed. 

No  principle  of  spiritual  light,  life,  or  holiness  is 


260 


THE  FRIENDS. 


owned  as  inherent  by  nature  in  the  mind  or  heart,  but 
a  capacity  to  receive  the  influence  of  the  Hohj  Spirit 
of  God  without  whose  quickening  and  illumination, 
neither  conscience  or  reason  discern  aright  of  the  deep 
things  of  God  and  Christ. 

The  Holy  So^ijJtwes  are  regarded  as  the  only 
divinely  authorised  record  of  the  doctrines  which  we 
are  bound  as  Christians  to  accept,  and  of  the  moral 
principles  which  are  to  regulate  our  actions,  and  what- 
ever anyone  says  or  does  contrary  to  the  Scriptures, 
though  under  profession  of  the  immediate  guidance  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  must  be  reckoned  and  accounted  a 
mere  delusion.  The  great  Inspirer  of  Scripture  is  ever 
its  true  Interpreter,  not  by  superseding  our  under- 
standings but  by  enlightening  them  that  the  humble 
disciple  may  discern  the  unity,  many  sidedness,  and 
harmony  of  its  testimony  to  Christ. 

Man  created  capable  of  holding  communion  with 
his  Maker,  free  to  obey  or  disobey  the  divine  law,  fell 
into  transgression  under  the  temptation  of  Satan,  and 
all  mankind  as  partakers  of  his  nature  are  involved  in 
the  consequences.  To  every  member  of  every  suc- 
cessive generation  the  words  "  ye  must  be  born  again  " 
are  applicable,  yet  is  not  sin  imputed  where  there  has 
been  no  sufficient  capacity  to  understand  the  divine 
law,  and  thus  infants  are  saved  through  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Justification  is  of  God's  free  grace,  who,  upon  re- 
pentance and  faith,  pardons  our  sins.  Sanctification  is 
experienced,  as  the  pardoned  sinner  through  faith  in 


THE  FRIENDS. 


261 


Christ  is  clothed  with  a  measure  of  His  righteousnest;, 
sufBcient  to  deliver  from  the  power  as  well  as  from 
the  guilt  of  sin,  yet  is  he  still  liable  to  temptation,  and 
able  only  to  follow  holiness  through  constant  depend- 
ence upon  his  Saviour. 

Not  only  is  a  resurrection  in  Christ  from  a  sinful 
state  believed  in  here,  but  a  rising  and  ascending  into 
glory  with  Him  hereafter,  that  when  he  at  last  appears 
we  may  appear  with  Him  in  glory  at  the  final  Judg- 
ment, when  the  wicked  shall  be  separated  from  those 
that  are  justified. 

One  Baptism  is  believed  in,  even  that  whereby  all 
believers  are  baptised  in  the  one  spirit  into  the  one 
body  ;  not  an  outward  but  a  spiritual  experience, 
transforming  the  heart  and  settling  the  soul  upon 
Christ. 

The  Siqjper  of  the  Lord  needs  no  ritual  or  priestly 
intervention.  They  truly  partake  who  rest  upon  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  their  Lord  as  their  only  hope, 
and  to  whom  the  indwelling  Spirit  gives  to  drink  of 
the  fulness  that  is  in  Christ.  It  is  this  inward  and 
spiritual  partaking  that  is  believed  in  as  the  true 
Supper  of  the  Lord. 

Worship  is  the  adoring  response  of  the  heart  and 
minds  to  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  stands 
neither  in  forms  nor  in  the  formal  disuse  of  forms  ;  it 
may  be  without  words  as  well  as  with  them,  but  it 
must  be  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

Preaching  is  believed  to  be  divinely  appointed  as 
one  of  the  chief  means  for  the  awakening  and  con- 


262 


THE  FRIENDS. 


version  of  sinners,  and  for  the  comfort  and  edification 
of  believers,  the  gift  and  qualification  to  exercise  it 
derived  immediately  from  the  Great  Head  of  the 
Church,  and  bestowed  on  women  as  well  as  men. 
The  church  cannot  confer,  but  it  is  its  duty  to  recog- 
nise and  foster,  and  while  the  gospel  should  never  be 
preached  for  money,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
make  such  provision  that  it  shall  never  be  hindered 
for  want  of  it. 

Prayer  is  the  outcome  of  our  sense  of  need.  It  is 
not  confined  to  the  closet.  "When  uttered  in  response 
to  the  promptings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  it  becomes  an 
important  part  of  public  worship.  Individuals, families, 
or  congregations,  accepting  all  they  receive  as  their 
Father's  pure  bounty,  will  be  still  2Ji'(iising  Him. 

It  is  the  duty  of  Christians  to  obey  the  enactments 
of  civil  government,  except  those  which  interfere  with 
our  allegiance  to  God,  whose  worship  ought  in  every 
act  to  be  free,  and  in  matters  of  religious  doctrine  and 
worship  the  conscience  is  accountable  only  to  God. 

Marriage  is  a  solemn  engagement  for  life,  not  a 
mere  civil  contract,  and  should  be  entered  upon  dis- 
creetly, soberly,  and  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 

War  is  incompatible  with  love  and  the  forgiveness 
of  injuries. 

Oaths,  profane  or  judicial,  are  to  be  avoided  as 
contrary  to  the  command  of  our  Lord,  Swear  not  at 
all. 

The  First  day  of  the  iveclc  being  a  release  granted 
from  business  should  be  diligently  improved  as  a  time 


THE  FRIENDS. 


263 


for  public  worship,  scripture  reading  to  assembled 
households,  private  retirement,  and  devotional  engage- 
ments. 

This  Declaration,  of  which  the  preceding  can 
scarcely  be  termed  even  an  abstract,  closes  with  an 
earnest  exhortation  that,  "  Life  from  Christ,  life  in 
Christ,  must  ever  be  the  basis  of  life  for  Christ. 
For  this  we  have  been  created  and  redeemed,  and 
by  this  alone  can  the  longings  of  our  immortal  souls 
be  satisfied." 


Note. — Tlie  representations  of  this  Richmond  Conference  did 
not  involve  the  various  Yearly  Meetings  in  any  acceptance  of  its 
Conclusions,  and  as  to  this  Declaration,  whilst  some  have  adopted 
it,  others  (like  London  Yearly  Meeting,  which  had  not  felt  the 
need  for  further  declarations  of  its  belief)  have  refrained  from 
expressing  a  judgment  ;  though,  as  to  the  Conference  itself,  it 
could  trust  "  that  the  results  of  its  deliberations  will  be  promotive 
of  the  welfare  of  the  Society." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


COXCLUSION. 


'NWORTHY  would  it  be  of  a  religious  society  if 


these  views  of  the  nature  and  history  of  "The 
Friends"  were  offered  with  any  other  object  than  a 
desire  to  make  apparent  that  principle  of  life  which 
has  proved  2)reservative  of  it  amid  circumstances  of  the 
f^ravest  peril  from  within  and  without,  and  endued  it 
with  a  Jlexihility  capable  of  adjustments  to  meet  social 
changes  throughout  seven  generations. 

That  principle  may  be  described  in  the  declaration 
of  an  apostle  "  that  the  grace  of  God  in  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  hath  appeared  unto  all  men, 
teaching  them  that  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly 
lusts  they  should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly 
in  this  present  world  looking  for  the  appearing  of  the 
great  God  our  Saviour,  who  shall  change  our  vile  body 
so  that  it  shall  be  like  unto  His  glorious  body  accord- 
ing to  the  working,  whereby  He  is  able  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  Himself. 

The  appearing  thus  described  has  to  the  "  Friend  " 
a  threefold  aspect  of  Past,  Present,  and  Future,  united 
with  a  special  sense  of  the  Present  blessings  opened  to 
the  believing  soul  by  the  Lord's  great  work  in  the  i)ast, 
whereby  He  now  enters  by  His  spirit  into  the  willing 
heart  as  into  His  temple  of  old.    It  is  for  this,  His 


THE  FRIENDS. 


265 


spiritual  appearance  the  Friend  worshipfally  waits, 
nd  in  its  realization  finds  strength  in  the  present,  hope 
for  the  future. 

This  consciousness  of  the  Lord's  presence  in  the 
heart  is  attended  not  only  with  a  sense  of  sins  forgiven, 
but  also  of  His  divine  power  to  save  from  sin  and  over- 
come in  the  hour  of  temptation,  even  by  that  power 
whereby  He  is  found  to  subdue  all  things  in  the  be- 
liever's heart  unto  Himself. 

The  Friend  has  called  this  blessedness  by  various 
biblical  terms  of  Light,  Life,  and  Seed,  and  felt  its  free- 
dom for  all  men  without  limitation  of  Race,  Colour,  or 
Creed,  with  an  absolute  independence  of  ritual  or  cere- 
monial observance  of  any  kind. 

He  claims  the  holy  scriptures  as  witnessing  to  this, 
and  to  their  being  in  themselves  a  divinely  appointed 
guide  for  obtaining  this  blessing. 

He  regards  no  church  arrangements— however 
ancient — as  any  other  than  helps  to,  as  distinct  from 
repositories  of,  this  divine  grace.  For  his  trust  ie  in 
the  Lord  alone,  of  whose  life-giving  virtue  he  is,  he 
believes,  as  much  a  partaker  as  were  those  whose 
fleshly  ailments  He  healed  in  the  days  of  His  ap- 
pearance as  man  to  men. 

Such  are  the  blessings  the  Friend  conceives  were 
opened  to  all  by  His  '■'■finished  "  work  which  effected 
an  unification  with  all  men,  who,  left  to  themselves, 
have  no  true  life.  Thus  is  made  possible  to  the 
believer  an  inward  healing  of  spirit,  and  an  infelt 
power  over  sin,  through  partaking  by  faith  of  His 


266 


THE  FRIENDS. 


resurrection  life.  A  direct  access  is  recognised  as 
having  been  thereby  opened  for  every  spirit  unto  the 
Lord  of  all  spirits,  that  the  Lord  Himself  may  be  known 
as  the  True  Minister  of  the  Sanctuary,  that  teacheth 
as  never  man  can  teach,  and  teacheth  also  one  to 
minister  unto  another  with  a  divine  anointing  no 
human  training  or  consecration  can  confer. 

Thus  truly  looking  "  unto  Jesus  "  in  all  His  blessed 
offices,  the  Friend  in  his  worship  is  not  dependent  on 
any  human  arrangements  or  human  ministry,  and  yet 
never  throughout  the  two  centuries  of  his  chequered 
course  has  he  been  without  a  stream  of  ministry  in  a 
true  apostolic  succession,  founded  on  the  same  qualifi- 
cations as  enabled  fishermen  and  sons  of  toil,  in 
primitive  times,  to  become  witnesses  of  Gospel  bless- 
ings in  a  risen  and  ever  pi-esent  Saviour. 

No  other  church,  it  has  been  said,  has  had  more 
ministers  amongst  them,  in  proportion  to  their  num- 
bers, than  "  the  Friends,"  a  result  wholly  independent 
of  any  outward  inducements,  and  often  entailing  much 
l)ersonaI  sacrifice  in  worldly  advancement,  ease,  or 
comfort.  Whilst  with  others  a  submission  to  some  rite 
or  ceremony  becomes  imperative  for  entrance  into  the 
covenanted  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  no  such  restriction 
obtains  with  one  who,  like  the  Friend,  believes  in  our 
Lord  having  by  his  voluntary  death  so  united  Himself 
to  mankind  as  to  have  made  all  men,  in  virtue  of  birth, 
free  to  partake  of  the  fountain  of  spiritual  life,  opened 
for  us  in  him. 

Whilst  with  so  many  others  there  is  a  belief  in  a 


THE  FRIENDS. 


267 


divinely  appointed  organization  as  tlie  root  of  a  Christ- 
ian's privilege,  with  the  Friend  all  organization  is  the 
fruit  of  his  faith  in  the  ever  present  guidance  of  his 
living,  loving  Lord  and  Saviour,  that  such  means  as 
will  truly  serve  the  Society's  welfare  may  be  changed 
or  adopted  as  altered  circumstances  require. 

Through  this  dependence  great  changes  in  arrange- 
ments have  been  safely  effected,  with  a  flexibility  far 
removed  from  dogmatic  adherence  to  custom  or  pre- 
cedent. 

"  I  like  this  word  flexibility  "  said  David  Updegraff 
at  the  Richmond  Conference  (himself  a  descendant  of 
those  emigrating  Germans  who  first  protested  against 
slavery),  "it  is  a  true, good,  blessed  word,  and  it  belongs 
to  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
flexibility  that  God  has  given  us  by  the  presence  of 
His  Spirit  and  the  power  of  His  truth,  we  should  have 
been  broken  into  a  thousand  fragments  long  ago.  But 
we  have  stood  the  storms  of  many  a  conflict,  and  passed 
through  them  in  love  and  Christian  charity. 

As  to  outward  life,  the  Friend  whilst  bearing  his 
share  in  all  legally  imposed  contributions  to  a  State 
ministry,  has  not  availed  himself  of  its  service,  he  has 
not  brought  his  children  to  the  >S'^a^e-provided  font  for 
assumed  deliverance  from  original  sin  ;  nor  submitted 
to  the  touch  of  an  Episcopal  hand  that  he  might  come 
for  spiritual  nourishment  to  the  State's  altar  ;  his 
daughters  have  been  content  to  take  their  husbands' 
pledge  in  marriage  without  any  State  ofBcial's  aid  ;  nor 
has  such  been  sought  for  under  other  circumstances  of 


;268 


THE  FRIEXDS. 


life,  or  in  the  hour  of  approaching  death,  having  felt 
satisfied  in  committal  of  dust  to  dust,  without  any  State- 
sanctioned  requiem  at  the  tomb. 

The  Friend  has  provided  his  own  burial  grounds, 
built  his  own  meeting-houses,  kept  his  own  registries 
of  marriages,  births,  and  burials,  maintained  his  own 
poor,  and  educated  their  offspring,  without  any  lessen- 
ing of  his  contribution  to  the  public  establishments, 
and  without  seeking  their  aid. 

For  with  all  this  independence  no  exclusiveness 
has  resulted,  either  in  withholding  sympathy,  or  shar- 
ing by  personal  effort,  in  whatever  might  promise  to 
foster  good,  resist  evil,  or  redress  wrongs.  "  Almost 
every  crusade  "  (to  use  the  words  of  George  Gillett  at 
the  Richmond  Conference)  "  for  relieving  the  sin  and 
suffering  of  the  world  has  had  for  its  j)ioneers  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  has  been  sustained  by 
the  gifts  and  self  denying  work  of  its  members,  who 
have  gone  out  to  work  in  the  service  and  love  of  Him 
who  has  redeemed  them." 

The  Friend  is  one  who  has  endeavoured  to  live  at 
peace  with  all  men,  to  seek  for  the  good  of  all,  and  love 
the  good  in  all. 

Thus  it  is  rare  for  his  name  to  appear  in  lawsuits, 
for  differences  with  his  brethren  are  the  subject  of  ad- 
justment by  arbitration  rather  than  litigation.  Seldom 
have  the  officers  of  justice  had  to  seek  his  dwelling  on 
a  criminal  charge,  and  the  few  sad  instances  that  have 
occurred,  owe  much  of  their  notoriety  to  their  in- 
frequency. 


THE  FRIENDS. 


269 


Surely  the  followers  of  this  principle  of  life  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Saviour  have  manifested  His  presence 
and  power  in  an  outward  conduct  in  life,  both  varied 
and  prolonged,  and  have  shown  how — through  divine 
assistance — there  may  be  a  "living  holily,  justly,  and 
unblamably,"  amid  the  activities  and  trials  incident  to 
a  thorough  participation  in  social,  commercial  and 
industrial  life. 

"  In  busy  lane  or  crowded  mart 
Plying  their  daily  tasks  with  busier  feet, 
Because  their  inmost  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat." 

Any  fresh  sense  of  this  arising  from  a  review  of 
their  history  and  organization  will,  it  may  be  hoped, 
Btir  all  to  come  more  and  more  into  that  personal 
realization  of  the  present  appearing  in  the  heart  "of 
the  great  God  our  Saviour,"  whereby  a  consciousness 
arises  of  power  for  good  and  power  against  evil,  not  of 
inan,  nor  of  submission  to  man-administered  Cere- 
monial, however  ancient,  nor  of  faith  in  man's  elabor- 
ated creeds. 

In  closing  this  imperfect  review  it  may  be  allow- 
able to  revert  to  the  scene  with  which  it  commenced, 
and  stand  as  it  were  beside  the  solitary  traveller  on 
that  Lancashire  Mount  of  observation.  What  he  saw 
in  prospective  gaze — of  a  great  people,  white  in  their 
raiment,  a  prepared  people — we  now  see  in  retro- 
spective glance  to  have  been  realised  in  the  benefi- 
cent course  of  the  Society. 

From  Pendle  Hill  to  a  Richmond  of  the  Americaii 
Prairies  is  as  far  as  the  East  is  from  the  West,  and  so 


270 


THE  FRIENDS. 


far  throughout  two  centuries  and  more  of  time,  has  the 
Community  which  that  Leicestershire  shepherd  was 
commissioned  to  inaugurate,  flowed  in  its  beneficent 
coarse. 

It  burst  forth  like  a  .Jordan  at  once,  a  full  and 
rushing  river  that  no  rocks  of  persecution  could  stay, 
nor  has  its  wide  expansion  over  level  ground  arrested 
its  living  impulse,  but  rather  self-reformation  has  sent 
it  onward  in  fertilising  channels  of  many  sided 
philanthropy,  until  now  its  share  in  modern  Christian 
effort  keeps  it  from  being  lost  in  fruitless  admiration 
of  a  past  career. 

Happily  the  present  Generation  is  yielding  proof 
of  this  in  Word  and  Deed,  and  one  who  is  himself  an 
earnest  worker,  and  whose  ancestry  is  from  the  region 
George  Fox  thus  overlooked,  has  claimed  that  Friends 
are  possessed  of  six  special  weapons  that  qualify  them 
in  a  particular  way  for  the  evangelisation  of  the 
masses. 

1.  Their  belief  that  God  has  a  witness  for  Himself 
in  the  soul  of  every  human  being. 

2.  Their  belief  in  the  immediate  and  direct 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

3.  Their  belief  that  Salvation  may  be  obtained 
through  Christ  alone. 

4.  Their  disuse  of  outward  Rites  and  Ceremonies. 

5.  The  absence  of  a  paid  ministry. 

6.  Their  democratic  form  of  Church  Government. 
May  all  these  efforts  be  conducted  on  the  basis 

of  the  Divine  injunction,  "  One  is  your  Master,  even 


THE  FRIENDS. 


271 


Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren,"  with  the  aim  and  result 
of  yet  bringing  a  "prepared,"  people,  able  themselves 
to  say,  "We  were  ccthing,  Christ  is  all."  For — as 
the  Yearly  Meeting  has  expressed  it — "Union  with 
Him  is  Life,  Separation  from  Him  is  Death. 


i'NDEX. 


Aberdeen,  Friends  in,  72. 
Aborigines'  Protection  Society, 
192. 

Ackworth  School,  171-174. 
Adult  Schools,  Commencement  of, 
245 

"Advices,"  165. 
Aldam,  Thomas,  28,  38 
Allen,  Stafford,  241. 
Allen,  William,  189,  218. 
Alsop,  Christine,  254. 
Ames,  William,  34,  94,  95. 
Amsterdam,  Friends'  Meeting  in, 
97. 

"Apology,"  Barclay's,  75. 
Arbitration,  216. 
Armistead,  William,  13G. 
Annstrong,  William,  137. 
Arscott,  Ale.xander,  40. 
Art,  Friends  and,  231. 
Atkinson,  Aaron,  135. 
Andland,  John,  34. 
Austin,  Ann,  45. 
Australasia,  Friends  in,  2G5. 


Backhouse,  James,  238,  255. 
Bangs,  Benjamin,  40. 
Banister,  Mary,  136. 
Baptism,  Friends'  belief  about, 

261. 
Barbadoes,  97. 
Barclay,  Christiana,  45. 
Barclay,  David,  73. 
Barclay,  Robert,  75. 
Barclay's  "Apology,"  75,  2.50. 
Barnardiston,  Giles,  35. 
Barrow,  Robert,  135. 
Barry,  John  Thomas,  192 
Benizet,  Anthony,  198,  2C(i. 
Bedford,  Peter,  190. 
Births,  Marriages,  and  Deaths, 

14G. 


Boston  Persecutions,  The,  107. 
Bownas,  Samuel,  136. 
Braddock,  Thomas,  88. 
Brewin,  William,  239. 
Bright,  John,  195. 
Brisbane,  Friends  in,  356. 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
194. 

Bri  tish  and  Foreign  School  Soci  ety, 
189. 

Brumana,  Missions  at,  242. 
BunhiU  Fields,  Work  in,  243. 
Bunyan,  John,  67. 
Burial  of  George  Fox,  143. 
Burnyeat,  John,  28,  37. 
Burrough,  Edward,  28,  29,  30,  52, 

83,  84. 
Buttery,  Isabel,  45. 
Buxton,  Anna,  185. 
Buxton.  Sir  Thomas  Fowell,  188. 


Callovi'hill,     Hannah,  marries 

William  Penn,  131. 
Camm,  John,  35. 
Capital  Punishment,  Friends  and, 

89,  192. 
Capper,  Samuel,  243. 
Carver,  Richard,  65. 
Caton,  William,  36. 
Character    Sketches    of  Early 

Friends,  28. 
Charles  II.,  Accession  of,  46. 
Children,  163,  167. 
China,  Friends'  Mission  in,  240. 
Churchman,  John,  138. 
Clark,  Mary,  109. 
Clarkson,  Thomas,  188. 
Clergy,  2,000  dispossessed,  46. 
Clibborn,  John.  87. 
Coale,  Josiah,  36. 
Cromwell,  George  Fox's  interview 

with,  33. 


274 


I1?DEX. 


Dahl,  Endro,  251,  252. 

Ualton,  John,  230. 

Deaths  of  Friends  in  Prisons,  65. 

Declaration  of  Allegiance  and 
Fidelity,  144. 

Declaration  of  Faith  by  Friends 
in  Barbadoes,  98. 

Declaration  of  Faith  at  the  Rich- 
mond Conference,  25S-2G3. 

Devonshire  House  Premises,  The, 
154. 

Dewsbury,  William,  35,  51. 
Dickenson,  James,  40,  137. 
Dillwyn,  George,  139. 
Direct  access  to  God  open  to  all, 
26G. 

Directory,  The,  14,  25. 
Discipline,  Origin  of  Friends',  55, 
145-147. 

Distinctive  characteristics,  271. 
Dobbs,  John,  89. 
Doctrine,  1,59,  258-263. 
Downer,  Ann,  45. 
Dyer,  Mary,  109. 


East  End  of  London,  Friends' 

work  in,  243. 
Edmundson,  William,  82,  86. 
Education,  169,  189. 
Elders,  57. 
JOllerton,  Mary  136. 
JOlIis,  Lewis,  44. 
Ellis,  William,  135. 
]Clhvood,  Thomas,  51. 
Eminent   Men  connected  with 

Friends,  233. 
Emlen,  Samuel,  138. 
]''.ngineers  among  Friends,  232. 
E-taugh,  John,  136. 


l-aith.  Declaration  of,  258-2G3. 
I'-amsworth,  Richard,  28. 
Farrington,  Abraham,  138. 
Fell,  Judge,  5,  8. 
Fell,  Margaret,  5-7,  140,  141. 
Fifth  Monarchy  Men,  47. 
First  Preaching  Friends,  Nan 

of,  28. 
Fisher,  Mary,  45,  108. 
Viahm,  Samuel,  36. 


Flexibility,  267. 

Foreign  Service,  92. 

Forster,  Josiah,  185. 

Forster,  William,  184. 

Forster,  William  Edward,  195. 

Fothergill,  Dr.  John,  171. 

Fothergill,  John,  136. 

Fox,  George,  1,  8, 10, 11, 14-19,  SS, 

56,  85,  99,  113,  114,  140-143. 
France.  Friends  in,  252. 
Friends'  Foreign  Mission  Associ« 

ation,  240,  245. 
Fry,  Elizabeth,  191. 


Gaols,  4,230  Friends  in,  51. 

 Condition  of,  51. 

Gbouge  I.,  Accession  of,  69. 
Germany,  Friends  in,  94,  240. 
Gill,  Roger,  135 
Graham,  James,  137. 
Grellett,  Stephen,  238,  249,  254, 
Grubb,  Sarah,  240. 
Gurney,  Josejih  John,  183. 
Gurney,  Priscilla,  188. 


Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  142. 

Halhead,  Miles,  39. 

Hat,  Non-removal  of,  23. 

Henderson,  Patrick,  136. 
I  Hicks,  Elias,  177. 
I  Hicksite  and  Orthodox,  179. 

Hipsley,  Henry,  239. 

Hobart  Friends'  School,  25.5. 

Hodgkin,  Dr.  Thomas,  192. 

Holland,  Friends  in,  94. 

  Geo.  Fox  in,  96. 

Holy  Spirit,  Friends'  belief  about 
the,  2.59. 

Home  Life  of  Friends,  234-236. 

Home  Mission  Work,  242,  244. 

Home  Mission  Committee,  246. 

Hooton,  Elizabeth,  45. 

Howgill,  Francis,  28,  36,  83. 

Hubberthorn,  Richard,  39,  53. 

Hunt,  William.  45. 


India,  Friends'  Mission  in,  2^. 
Indians,  Treatment  of,  by  I-3nn. 
126-8. 


INDEX. 


275 


Industrial  Pursuits  of  Friends, 
221. 

Insane,  Treatment  of,  by  Friends, 

207,  209. 
Ireland,  Early  Friends  in,  82. 

  Modern  Friends  in,  90, 

214. 

 Persecutions  in,  85. 


Jacob,  Elizabeth,  90. 
Jaffray,  Alexander,  72. 
Jaffray,  Andrew,  78. 
Jamaica,  99. 
Jamks  II.,  C7. 
Jeffrey,  Russell,  239. 
Journal  of  George  Fo.x,  99. 
Justitication,  Doctrine  of,  360. 


Keith,  George,  77. 
King,  F.  T.,  218. 


Lancaster,  Joseph,  189. 

Langdale,  Josiah,  135. 

Langworth,  Roger,  135. 

Latey,  Gilbert,  60. 

Law  Proceedings,  Friends'  objec- 
tion to,  146. 

Lay,  Benjamin,  199. 

Lectures  as  a  means  of  Religious 
Instruction,  31. 

Leddra,  William,  110. 

Legal  Profession,  Friends  in  the, 
231. 

Lightfoot,  ISIichael,  138. 
Lindsay,  Robert,  23'.». 
Literature,  Friends  iiromineE.'i  in, 
232. 

Liturgy  forbidden,  31. 
Liturgy  restored,  46. 
Living  Rooms  in  Meeting  Houses, 
01. 

Livingston,  Patrick,  70. 

Lloyds,  The,  in  Pennsylvania,  13S 

Lodge,  Robert,  37. 

Loe,  Thomas,  37,  119. 

Logan,  James,  139. 

London,  Distress  of,   after  the 

Fire,  etc.,  53. 
Lord's  Supper,   Friends'  Belief 

about  The,  261. 


'  Macliie,  Frederick,  239. 
Majoliers,  The,  253. 

 Remarkable  family 

story,  254. 
Marriage,  146,  167,  262. 
Martin,  James,  135. 
^Ia.s.sachussetts,  First  Friends  ir, 
102. 

 Persecutions  in, 

102,  lOG-110. 
Mead,  William,  110. 
Medical  Profession,  Friends  in 

the,  231. 

Meeting  Houses,  Establishment 
of,  59. 

 ■  Wrecking  of,  59. 

 Planfordffeating 

law  respecting,  60. 

 Care  of,  147. 

Meetings,  Severe  Restrictions  on, 
48. 

Melbourne,  Friends  in,  256. 
Ministry,  147, 101, 185, 235,261,260. 

 Instance  of  valued,  23(;. 

"  Minutes  and  Advices  of  the 

Yearly  Meeting,"  151. 
Missionaries  among  Early  Frion  ds, 

92. 

Missions,  238. 

Monitorial  System  in  Schools,  189. 
Monthly  Meeting,  The,  55,  57. 
Morris,  Sarah,  138. 
Morris,  Susanna,  138. 
Murray,  Lindley,  170. 

!  Nayler,  James,  41. 

Newgate,  Early  Friends  in,  6i 
1  Newland,  George,  44. 

Nicholson,  Joseph,  110. 
j  "  No  Cross,  No  Crown,"  120. 

Norton,  Humphrey,  109. 
I  Norway  and  Denmark,  Friends 
in,  250. 

Norwegian  inquirer.  Story  of  a, 
2.50. 


Oaths,  24,  2G2. 
Oath  of  Allegiance,  49,  65. 
Occupations  of  Early  Friends,  28 
"  Order  of  Release,"  05. 
Organization  of  the  Society,  53. 
See  Di'cipJine, 


276 


INDEX. 


Overton,  Samuel.  40. 

Parents.  Counsel  to,  1G3. 
Parker,  Alexander,  28,  37. 
Parnel,  James,  43. 
Pastorius,  9G. 

Peace  Principles  of  Friends,  211- 
220. 

Pemberton,  Israel,  137. 
Penn,  Admiral,  110,  IIS,  121. 
Penn,  Guli,  Death  of,  131. 
Penn,  William,  116-133. 
Peningtons,  The,  122. 
Pennsylvania,  116,  117,  123,  124, 
129.  133. 

Pennsylvania,  MinisteringFriends 

in,  13.5-139. 
Personal  Ajipearance  of  George 

Fox,  17. 
Philadeli)hia,  124. 133. 
Philanthropy,  Friends  and,  187. 
Phillips,  William,  188. 
Poor,  Friends'careof  their,147>lT3 
Portrait  of  GeorgeFox  byLely,  17. 
Prayer,  262. 
Preaching,  261. 


Quaker,  Origin  of  the  name,  14. 
Quarterly  Meetings,  Growth  of.57. 
"Queries,"  The,  152. 


Railways,  Friends  and,  227. 
Keligious  state  of  England  in 

George  Fox's  umc,  13. 
Remarkal'l''  .1  !><•.. v.tv  of  George 

Fox's  r.  in;,in^.  1  i:;. 
Reproacliful      inilmt    <jf  early 

Friends  explained,  40,  111. 
Restoratic'n,  The,  40. 
Retreat,  Tiie  York,  20^. 
Richardson,  George,  239. 
Riehard.son,  John,  130. 
Richmond  Conference,  The.  257. 
 without 

Authority.  263. 
Robinson,  William,  109. 
Rous,  John,  108. 


Kall  eld,  John,  136. 
Salthouse,  'i  homa.s,  39. 
Savery,  William,  1<S, 


Scarborough  Castle,  George  I'ox 
in,  72. 

Science,  Friends  and,  230. 
Schism,  Case  of,  in  London,  180. 
Schools,  Particulars  of  Friends', 
174. 

Scotch  Presbyterianism,  80. 

Scotland,  Early  Friends  in,  72. 

 Emigration  of  Frienda 

from,  81. 

 Fewness  of  Friends  in, 

explained,  81. 

Secession,  The  First,  175. 

 The  Hicksite,  176. 

 of  1836,  182. 

Sects,  Confusion  of,  under  Crom- 
well, 32. 

Settlements,    Early  American, 

101,  102. 
Sewel's  History,  97. 
Sewell,  Joseph  S.,  240. 
Sharp,  Isaac,  239. 
Shilhtoe,  Thomas,  23-!. 
Simplicity  of  Life  enjoined,  1G3. 
Slavery,  Friends  and,  188, 190, 200. 

 Associationfor  Abolition 

of,  201. 

 Appeal  of  the  Yearly 

Meeting  respecting, 
202. 

Speech,  Peculiarity  of  Friends',  2;> 
Spitalfields,  Work  in,  243. 

I  Springett,  Sir  W.,  122. 
Stanton,  Daniel,  1.38. 

j  State  of  England,  31. 

I  Statistics  of  Early  Friends  in 

j  London,  29. 

I    of  Early    Friends  in 

j  Prisons,  51. 

!    of  Deaths  of  Friends  in 

Prisons,  51,  52. 

I  of  Persecutions,  65,  85. 

I  oi"  American  Friends, 

100. 

 of  AdulD  Schools,  215 

Stevenson,  Marmaduke,  109. 

 George,  227-229. 

Story,  Christopher,  40. 

Story  of  George  Fox,  114. 

Stubbs,  John,  36. 

Sufferings  of  Friends  under  Charl  s 

I  —  in  Ireland,  8."i 


INDEX. 


277 


Sunimarv  of  the  Friend's  faitli 

and  character,  2G4. 
Swarthuiore  Hall,  5. 
Syria,  Friends  in,  241. 


Taylor,  Christopher,  38. 
Taylor,  Thomas,  38. 
Temperance  Movement,  The,  193. 
Thompson,  Thomas,  135. 
Tested,  Elias,  252. 
Transportations  of  Friends,  05. 
Treaty,  Penn's,  128. 
Trotter,  Benjamin,  138. 
Tuke,  Samuel,  185. 
Turkey,  Friends'  work  in,  240. 
Turner,  John,  137. 
Turner,  Thomas,  136. 
Tyler,  Jonathan,  135. 


United     States  Constitution, 
Friends' Influence  on,  ]'J5. 


Waldemier,  Theophilus,  241. 
Waldenfield,  39. 
Walker,  G.  W.,  238,  255. 
Wain,  Nicholas,  139. 
War,  Friends' Testimony  against, 
211-220,  2G2. 
George  Fox's  Feeling  about 


 William  Penn  and,  213. 

 Friends'  Philanthropic  Part 

in,  215. 

 The  American,  218. 

 Heroic  Testimony  against, 

219. 

Warden,  ^alph,  135. 
Wenlock,  CJOristison,  110. 
West  Indies,  Friends  in,  97. 
Wheeler,  Daniel,  239. 
White,  Joseph,  138. 
Whitehead,  George,  28,  03,  C4,  G6, 

67,  G8,  69,  70. 
Widders,  Robert,  28. 
Wilkinson,  Samuel,  13G. 
William  and  Mart,  Accession  of. 

G3. 

Williams,  Roger,  102. 
Women  Friends,  Early,  45,  !)7. 

 Influence  of,  150. 

 —  Provided  with  a 

Meeting  House,  155. 
"Woodhouse,"  Voyage  of  the, 

103-105. 

Woolman,  John,  138,  198,  200. 
Worship,  160,  261. 


Yeardley,  John  and  Martha,  23'J, 
240. 

Yearly  Meeting,  Manner  of  Con- 
ducting, 148. 
Young  Friends,  Service  of,  45, 167. 
Young,  Thomas,  231. 


LONDON : 

Milton  Smith  &  Co  ,  Ltd  ,  Devonshire  Strejt,  Bishopsgate,  E  C. 
1897. 


Date  Due 


— 

1  

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

